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READING THE TEXT IN RED ON THIS PAGE WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO USE EACH PAGE in my educational website.
THE 2 EUREKA EFFECT PAGES FOR UNDERSTANDING SOIL AND HOW PLANTS INTERACT WITH IT OUT OF 17,000:-
Explanation of Structure of this Website with User Guidelines Page for those photo galleries with Photos (of either ones I have taken myself or others which have been loaned only for use on this website from external sources)
Problems with electrical re-wire in my home, with the knowledge after the event that the client can do nothing about it, since NAPIT requires you to re-use the same contractor to fix the problems. Would you after reading these pages? We wrote the concerns about the electrical work on 21.03.21; Questions concerning electrics on 21.03.21 and re-wire narrative on 19.04.2021 which had no effect on the credit card company or NAPIT. So we commisioned the following report to see if that will make any difference.
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HOME PAGES Welcome - Ivydene Gardens informs you how to design, construct and maintain your private garden using organic methods and companion planting. Sub Menu to each Page of this Topic of the HOME PAGES, with normally a * after Page you are viewing.
Damage to Tree Trunks 1, 2, 3, 4 caused by people, Camera Photo Galleries:- Will visitors to Madeira worry about having branches or trees in public places fall on them? No; according to Engineer Francisco Pedro Freitas Andrade of Est. Marmeleiros, No 1, Jardins & Espaces Verdes who is Chef de Diviso Câmara Municipal do Funchal; Departamento de Ciência e de Recursos Naturais; Divisão de Jardins e Espaços Verdes Urbanos in charge of the trees within the pavements within the area controlled by Funchal Municipality - See Monitoring of Trees in pavements in Funchal, Madeira from September 2019 to February 2010 1, 2 pages by his department. PROBLEMS WITH TREES IN PAVEMENTS IN ST. PETER PORT, GUERNSEY IN SEPTEMBER 2019 |
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Many of the trees in the pavements along the roads from Funchal Cathedral to the Forum are pollarded before being planted and pollarded later in their lives and then left to their own devices in most cases with no irrigation or feeding, so that the soil round their roots degenerates to its component rock. Maintenance seems to mostly take the form of tidying up the broken branches, perhaps bracing branches together to prevent their collapse, or cutting the trees down to the ground. I will be suggesting a possible change to make these trees healthier and prevent the town from turning into a volcano of heat. |
Pollarding, a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, promotes a dense head of foliage and branches. Traditionally, people pollarded trees for one of two reasons: for fodder to feed livestock or for wood. Wood pollards were pruned at longer intervals of eight to fifteen years, a pruning cycle tending to produce upright poles favored for fence rails and posts and boat construction. Nowadays, the practice is sometimes used for ornamental trees, such as crepe myrtles in southern states of the USA, although the resulting tree has a stunted form rather than a natural-looking crown. Pollarding tends to make trees live longer by maintaining them in a partially juvenile state and by reducing the weight and windage of the top part of the tree. Pollarding began with walled cities in Europe which did not have room for large trees. Although people who migrated to the United States from Europe continued the practice, experts have come to believe that pollarding older trees harms the tree. The smaller limbs grow from wood that is not as strong, and the weaker trees will not live as long and can be more easily damaged by storms. As with coppicing, only species with vigorous epicormic growth may be made into pollards. In these species (which include many broadleaved trees but few conifers), removal of the main apical stems releases the growth of many dormant buds under the bark on the lower part of the tree. Trees without this growth will die without their leaves and branches. Some smaller tree species do not readily form pollards, because cutting the main stem stimulates growth from the base, effectively forming a coppice stool instead. Examples of trees that do well as pollards include broadleaves such as beeches (Fagus), oaks (Quercus), maples (Acer), black locust or false acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia), hornbeams (Carpinus), lindens and limes (Tilia), planes (Platanus), horse chestnuts (Aesculus), mulberries (Morus), Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis), tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), willows (Salix), and a few conifers, such as yews (Taxus). |
Pollarding, a pruning system in which the upper branches of a tree are removed, which encourages watersprouts. Water sprouts are shoots that arise from the trunk of a tree or from branches that are several years old, from latent buds. The latent buds might be visible on the bark of the tree, or submerged under the bark as epicormic buds. They are sometimes called suckers, although that term is more correctly applied to shoots that arise from below ground, from the roots, and a distance from the trunk. Vigorous upright water sprouts often develop in response to damage or pruning. The structure of water-sprout regrowth is not as strong as natural tree growth, and the shoots are more subject to diseases and pests. Adventitious shoots are also produced at the circumference of the cut trunk/branch. Coppicing is the practice of cutting tree stems to the ground to promote rapid growth of adventitious shoots. Adventitious buds are often formed after the stem is wounded or pruned. The adventitious buds help to replace lost branches. Adventitious buds and shoots also may develop on mature tree trunks when a shaded trunk is exposed to bright sunlight because surrounding trees are cut down, or in the case of the tree pollarded in the front garden of the Pestana Mirimar Garden from its own shade. The disadvantage for these shoots from the cut ends is that the growth comes from the water/nutrient bearing cells and is not supported by the heartwood beyond the cut, so is inherently weaker as well as not being the only new branch round that cut end. |
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tree 21 forum end of 2 road junction with hole through trunk opposite enotel IIMG_6206.JPG This tree opposite Enotel Hotel has a hole through the trunk at and below ground level. Below is photos showing another hole in the trunk - it is likely that that hole has also rotted the heartwood of this trunk sufficiently to reach this hole below. I showed these photos to the reception staff in the Enotel Hotel and equired whether they minded that this tree might fall towards them and if they were concerned? I gave them my website name of www.ivydenegardens.co.uk and requested that instead of chopping that tree down, that it was high pressure-hosed inside the trunk to remove the loose rotten wood. Whilst still wet then apply expanded foam to fill the hole (empty bottles or cullet could also be used to reduce the cost. Apply coating of expanded foam, pour in the cullet or lay the empty bottles in rows. Apply more expanding foam, making sure that no cullet or empty bottle touches the heartwood).The expanded foam is poisonous and will kill any small organism eating it. Once the foam is set after 2 or 3 hours, then trim it and paint it with 2 coats of black masonry water-based plastic masonry paint - see below. |
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tree 21 forum end of 2 road junction with hole through trunk IMG_6203.JPG. This shows some more of the rotten tree heartwood from the opposite side to the above If you decide to cut the tree down, then why not replace it with one of your own native trees as specified in Madeira Plants and Flowers. Text and Photography Anonio da Costa. Published in Funchal, 2002. ISBN 972-9177-35-X. Please do not replant with Phoenix canariensis (Canary Palm) as shown on page 332. This book shows photos and details of 454 plants and flowers that can be seen in Madeira, either in cultivation or growing wild. One will find here 88 plants endemic from the Island, as well as 53 others which also occur in the Azores, the Canary Islands and /or Cape Verde - archipelagos which, together with that of Madeira, form the Macaronesia. The remaining species illustrated come from most other parts of the world.
tree 21 forum end of 2 road junction with hole through trunk opposite enotel IMG_0207 |
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tree 21 forum end of 2 road junction with hole through trunk opposite enotel IIMG_6208.JPG The hump on the trunk on the left is where a large branch was removed and the hole on the right is the same hole as in the photo above. You can see the Enotel Hotel sign in the background of this photo |
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tree 21 forum end of 2 road junction with hole through trunk opposite enotel IMG_6204.JPG The position of this hole is indicated in the photo above. |
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tree 21 forum end of 2 road junction with hole through trunk opposite enotel IIMG_6205.JPG Holding the camera above my head, I took this photo showing the damage inside this trunk. The position of this hole is shown in the "tree 21 forum end of 2 road junction with hole through trunk opposite enotel IIMG_6208.JPG" photo 2 rows above. There w ill be more pages showing further examples of damage to the trunks/branches of these trees in the pavements.
tree 21 forum end of 2 road junction with hole through trunk opposite enotel IMG_0206 |
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The following is copy of the Site Map Page of Ivydene Gardens Evergreen Trees Gallery:- "Saving the Common Yew at St. Margarets Church, Rainham, Kent (written 31 July 2009 for the congregation). Over the years, damage has occurred to the branches coming from this multi-trunked yew tree. Some of this is where a branch has broken off or broken at the junction with its trunk leaving a jagged edge. When it rains, the water collects in this jagged edge and provides a carrier for rot bacteria to enter and break down the strength of the Heartwood. This has happened down the middle of most of the trunks. Mr Noakes (Churchwarden) and I are excavating and removing as much of this rot as possible before replacing it with Polycell Expanding Foam (which contains Diphenylmethane-4, 4-diisocyanate) and empty bottles. The empty bottles reduce the number of cans of Polycell Expanding Foam used. This Foam is normally used in the construction industry to fill the space between Windows and Walls and thus prevent draughts round the edge of the windows. In this case, it fills all the space occupied by the removed rot and if any beastie tries eating it, it will be killed by the cyanate in it. This also prevents the bacteria from having access to air/rain; thus hopefully stopping any further internal rot. Unfortunately the Foam is attacked by light, becomes brittle and flakes off, so we are painting it twice with Black Masonry Paint to prevent that. The Masonry Paint is a plastic film which is flexible, so if the tree moves the paint will move with it rather than cracking apart . |
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The following Diagram is from Wikipedia.org/wiki/wood.jpg:-
When a tree grows it has Bark on the outside, which is the tree's growth area.
Inside that are the xylem sections which are responsible for the transport of water and soluble mineral nutrients from the roots throughout the plant.
Inside that is Heartwood. Heartwood is wood that has become more resistant to decay as a result of deposition of chemical substances (a genetically programmed process). Once heartwood formation is complete, the heartwood is dead. Some uncertainty still exists as to whether heartwood is truly dead, as it can still chemically react to decay organisms, but only once (Shigo 1986, 54).
The Bark and Xylem sections on the outer part of the trunk or branch are quite thin. The Heartwood does the structural support of the entire tree. The Heartwood is dead and therefore if anything attacks it, the tree cannot defend itself from woodworm, wet rot, dry rot, honey fungus etc. Therefore if the Heartwood is exposed it needs to be defended against attack. It used to be done using concrete, but unfortunately concrete shrinks when it cures and therefore it allows for air and water to get at the heartwood again. If the tree bark and cambium layer is broken apart all the way round a trunk so that the lower liquid in it cannot connect with the liquid in the higher trunk, then all the trunk above that will die. Some of the branches have fallen away from the trunk and are almost on the ground, but are supported on thin branches from them to the ground (the next paragraph explains how we will provide nutrients for these thin branches in the ground). We will replace the rot at the trunk-branch connection with Foam and apply the Masonry Paint. All the exposed Heartwood on these branches and the rest of the tree will also be liberally painted with the Black Masonry Paint to prevent woodworm or anything else from eating or changing it thus removing its function of holding up the rest of the tree. The colour of the paint is immaterial but black is easy to buy and does not draw attention to the fact that 20% of the tree will have to be painted, unless you wish us to create a painted work of art! The roots of a tree are generally embedded in earth, providing anchorage for the above-ground biomass and absorbing water, air and nutrients from the soil. It should be noted, however, that while ground nutrients are essential to a tree's growth the majority of its biomass comes from carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere. Some of the area round the tree has been used to dump the subsoil from digging graves. Subsoil has no nutrients and so is not a benefit for the yew tree. We can change the subsoil into topsoil by mulching it with organic material which the worms will take down into this subsoil. It is suggested that all the flowers and foliage from the church and churchyard are placed on top of the pile of branches on the ground next to the trunk between 9.00 and 10.00 o’clock when looking at the tree from Station Road. These can then be spread over the area (under the tree not cut by the lawnmowers) before covering it over with a thin layer of shreddings of tree prunings to make it look tidy. The shreddings will come from professional tree surgeons; and as they decompose this mulch will replenish the minerals for the tree. You will notice in a natural wood, that when the leaves and branches fall on the ground, they are not removed but are recycled by the worms and bacteria for the trees to reuse the minerals for future growth. This new mulch will duplicate this natural process in a neater fashion. This repair and restorative work will take some time for David and I to complete . |
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The Yew Tree of St Margaret’s Church, Rainham, Kent, written by Clifford Hansford. Contributory Member of the Ancient Yew Group www.ancient-yew.org
Observations of the tree’s current restoration/conservation work now nearing completion, 15th February 2010.
The following observations have been recorded in response to a request from Tim Hills (Ancient Yew Group) for information relating to the particular method currently being used to rescue and protect the above yew from further decay. It is hoped that the information will be of use to assist Mr Russell Ball, President of the United Kingdom & Ireland International Society of Arboriculture, in assessing the methods’ acceptability for such a task. Having learned of the tree’s plight from a colleague at the Kent Wildlife Trust, and visited the yew on Sat’ 13th February with Mr Chris Garnons-Williams, who is undertaking the work, my understanding of the situation is as follows:- 1: This yew (recorded in the AYG Gazetteer) is believed by the church to be an ancient yew of approximately 1300 years old. 2: Concern was raised by members of the church regarding the way in which the open centre of the yew retained water. Such water retention was believed to be accelerating the decay already prevalent in this area of the yew. Also, it was noted that other areas of the yew were displaying similar symptoms, particularly where a large branch had partially broken away from the main trunk. 3: Having engaged the services of Chris Garnons-Williams, the proprietor of Ivydene Horticultural Services (www.ivydenegardens.co.uk) a horticulturalist, it was agreed to implement the current method of recovery and conservation as Chris has proved it successful when used on other types of tree. Firstly, all old decayed material is removed. All hollows and cavities are then back-filled with a combination of empty bottles (supplied by the pub next door to the church) and expandable polystyrene foam. The bottles are used to help fill the cavities, thus saving money on the use of foam. Care is taken to ensure the foam forms around the bottles, and mates with all areas of surrounding heartwood. Finally two coats of black masonry, water based paint is applied to both the foam and locally exposed heartwood (Without a paint covering the foam decays if directly exposed to sunlight). 4: To date £700 has been spent on this work, (£200 donated directly by a group of church members and the remainder supplied from church funds). Notes: An assortment of different size bottles, ranging from whiskey and wine (large bottles) to the smaller fruit juice bottles, are used depending on the size of the cavities/gaps to be filled. In hindsight, Chris would recommend the use of high-pressure water to remove the decayed wood rather than screwdrivers and other blade-type implements. The residual water left from the process would help to set the expandable polystyrene foam. Work started in August 2009, with a break during the cold weather, and is still ongoing. A further five to ten days is anticipated for completion. All old, firm wood has been left in situ. Lots of new shoots are now forming. Between Chris and myself we were able to measure the girth of the yew as being 26 feet at its base. It just so happened that on the day Chris and I met for the first time (13 Feb 2010), the church had its annual open day. This gave me an opportunity to learn from church members how very determined they are to preserve this much respected yew.
Western facing aspect.
View of Eastern aspect.
View of Southern aspect
View of Northern aspect which indicates the open centre before preservation action.
View of Northern aspect with Clifford Hansford - after preservation action.
Bottle-filled foam repair.
View showing filled split in a limb growing from a fallen branch.
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IMPROVING ST BARTHOLOMEWS CHURCHYARD, CAN YOU HELP? I visited this churchyard on 19 May 2013 and found that the clearing work I had started in July 1999 had been considerably further extended, so now there is a glorious view beyond the church of the surrounding hills and valley. The current very elderly yew trees on the left as one comes into the churchyard have rotten open trunks, which could have the earth removed from inside together with the heartwood rot using trowels and chisels. Then, use a high-pressure water hose to remove yet more of the internal rot, before following what was done to protect the Common Yew at St. Margarets Church, Rainham, Kent as detailed in this Introduction Page . |
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For educational purposes, so that people following best practice can fully understand why the evergreen trees never lose their leaves; here are the written facts from The Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrooke:-
'Winter was coming, and the birds had flown south, where the air was warm and they could find berries to eat. One little bird had broken its wing and could not fly with the others. It was alone in the cold world of frost and snow. The forest looked warm, and it made its way to the trees as well as it could, to ask for help. First, it came to a birch-tree. "Beautiful birch-tree," it said, "my wing is broken, and my friends have flown away. May I live among your branches till they come back to me?" "No, indeed," answered the birch-tree, drawing her fair green leaves away. "We of the great forest have our own birds to help. I can do nothing for you." "The birch-tree is not very strong," said the little bird to itself, "and it might be that she could not hold me easily. I will ask the oak." So the bird said, "Great oak-tree, you are so strong, will you not let me live on your boughs till my friends come back in the springtime?" "In the springtime!" cried the oak. "That is a long way off. How do I know what you might do in all that time? Birds are always looking for something to eat, and you might even eat up some of my acorns." "It may be that the willow will be kind to me," thought the bird, and it said, "Gentle willow, my wing is broken, and I could not fly to the south with the other birds. May I live on your branches till the springtime?" The willow did not look gentle then, for she drew herself up proudly and said, "Indeed, I do not know you, and we willows never talk to people whom we do not know. Very likely there are trees somewhere that will take in strange birds. Leave me at once." The poor little bird did not know what to do. Its wing was not yet strong, but it began to fly away as well as it could. Before it had gone far, a voice was heard. "Little bird," it said, "where are you going?" "Indeed, I do not know," answered the bird sadly. "I am very cold." "Come right here, then," said the friendly spruce-tree, for it was her voice that had called. "You shall live on my warmest branch all winter if you choose." "Will you really let me?" asked the little bird eagerly. "Indeed, I will," answered the kind-hearted spruce-tree. "If your friends have flown away, it is time for the trees to help you. Here is the branch where my leaves are thickest and softest." "My branches are not very thick," said the friendly pine-tree, "but I am big and strong, and I can keep the north wind from you and the spruce." "I can help too," said a little juniper-tree. "I can give you berries all winter long, and every bird knows that juniper berries are good." So the spruce gave the lonely little bird a home, the pine kept the cold north wind away from it, and the juniper gave it berries to eat. The other trees looked on and talked together wisely. "I would not have strange birds on my boughs", said the birch. "I shall not give my acorns away for any one," said the oak. "I never have anything to do with strangers," said the willow, and the 3 trees drew their leaves closely about them. In the morning all those shining green leaves lay on the ground, for a cold north wind had come in the night, and every leaf it touched fell from the tree. "May I touch every leaf in the forest?" asked the wind in its frolic. "No," said the frost king. "The trees that have been kind to the little bird with the broken wing may keep their leaves." This is why the leaves of the spruce, the pine, and the juniper are always green.' |
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This website is being created by Chris Garnons-Williams of Ivydene Horticultural Services from it's start in 2005. I am requesting free colour photographs of any plants grown in or sold in the United Kingdom to add to the plants in the Plant Photographic Galleries and Butterfly photographs for the Butterfly on Plant Photographic Galleries. |
Site design and content copyright ©April 2007. Page structure amended October 2012. Page structure changed February 2019 for pages concerning Trees in pavements alongside roads in Madeira. Chris Garnons-Williams. |
It should be remembered that nothing is sold from this educational site, it simply tries to give you the best advice on what to use and where to get it (About Chris Garnons-Williams page details that no payment or commision to or from any donor of photos or adverts I place on the site in the Useful Data or other sections is made to Chris Garnons-Williams or Ivydene Horticultural Services). This website is a hobby and not for direct commercial gain for Ivydene Horticultural Services. There is no Google Adscenes or Search Facility in this website. The information on this site is usually Verdana 14pt text (from December 2023, this is being changed from 14pt to 10pt) and all is in tabular form. This can be downloaded and sorted using WORD or other word-processing software into the order that you personally require, especially for soil subsidence, the Companion Planting Tables and the pages in the Plants section. This would be suitable for use in education as well. I put jokes in at various places to give you a smile. |
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There’s A Genius Street Artist Running Loose In The Streets. Let’s Hope Nobody Catches Him!
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Worms in Love. |
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The following is from "Some time around 600 million years ago, green algae began to move out of shallow fresh waters and onto the land. They were the ancestors of all land plants... Today, plants make up to 80% of the mass of all life on Earth and are the base of the food chains that support nearly all terrestrial organisms.... But the algal ancestors of land plants had no roots, no way to store or transport water, and no experience in extracting nutrients from solid ground. How did they manage the fraught passage onto dry land? ... It was only by striking up new relationships with fungi that algae were able to make it onto land. These early alliances evolved into what we now call mycorrhizal relationships. Today, more than 90% of all plant species depend on mycorrhizal fungi. Mycorrhizal associations are the rule not the exception: a more fundamental part of planthood than fruit, flowers, leaves, wood or even roots.... For the relationship to thrive, both plant and fungus must make a good metabolic match. In photosynthesis, plants harvest carbon from the atmosphere and forge the energy-rich carbon compounds - sugars and lipids - on which much of the rest of life depends. By growing within plant roots, mycorrhizal fungi acquire privileged access to these sources of energy: they get fed. However, photosynthesis is not enough to support life. Plants and fungi need more than a source of energy. Water and minerals must be scavenged from the ground - full of textures and micropores, electrically charged cavities and labyrinthine rot-scapes. Fungi are deft rangers in this wilderness and can forage in a way that plants can not. By hosting fungi within their roots, plants gain hugely improved access to these sources of nutrients. They, too, get fed. By partnering, plants gain a prosthetic fungus, and fungi gain a prosthetic plant. Both use the other to extend their reach.... By the time the first roots evolved, the mycorrhizal association was already some 50 million years old. Mycorrhizal fungi are the roots of all subsequent life on land. Today, hundreds of millions of years later, plants have evolved, faster-growing, opportunistic roots that behave more like fungi. But even these roots cannot out-manoeuvre fungi when it comes to exploring the soil. Mycorrhizal hyphae are 50 times finer than the finest roots and can exceeed the length of a plant's roots by as much as a 100 times. Their mycelium makes up between a third and a half of the living mass of soils. The numbers are astronomical. Globally, the total length of mycorrhizal hyphae in the top 10 centimetres (4 inches) of soil is around half the width of our galaxy (4.5 x 10 to the power 17 kilometres versus 9.5 x 10 to the power 17 kilometres). If these hyphae were ironed into a flat sheet, their combined surface area would cover every inch of dry land on Earth 2.5 times over.... In their relationship, plants and mycorrhizal fungi enact a polarity: plant shoots engage with the light and air, while the fungi and plant roots engage with the solid ground. Plants pack up light and carbon dioxide into sugars and lipids. Mycorrhizal fungi unpack nutrients bound up in rock and decomposing material. These are fungi with a dual niche: part of their life happens within the plant, part in the soil. They are stationed at the entry point of carbon into terrestrial life cycles and stitch the atmosphere into relation with the ground. To this day, mycorrhizal fungi help plants cope with drought, heat and many other stresses life on land has presented from the very beginning, as do the symbiotic fungi that crowd into plant leaves and stems. What we call 'plants' are in fact fungi that have evolved to farm algae, and algae that have evolved to farm fungi.... Mycorrhizal fungi can provide up to 80% of a plant's nitrogen, and as much as 100% of its phosphorus. Fungi supply other crucial nutrients to plants, such as zinc and copper. They also supply plants with water, and help them to survive drought as they have done since the earliest days of life on land. In return, plants allocate up to 30% of the carbon they harvest to their mycorrhizal partners.... And yet mycorrhizal fungi do more than feed plants. Some describe them as keystone organisms; others prefer the term 'ecosystem engineers'. Mycorrhizal mycelium is a sticky living seam that holds soil together; remove the fungi, and the ground washes away. Mycorrhizal fungi increase the volume of water that the soil can absorb, reducing the quantity of nutrients leached out of the soil by rainfall by as much as 50%. Of the carbon that is found in soils - which, remarkably, amounts to twice the amount of carbon found in plants and the atmosphere combined - a substantial proportion is bound up in tough organic compounds produced by mycorrhizal fungi. The carbon that floods into the soil through mycorrhizal channels supports intricate food webs. Besides the hundreds or thousands of metres of fungal mycelium in a teaspoon of healthy soil, there are more bacteria, protists, insects and arthropods than the number of humans who have ever lived on Earth. Mycorrhizal fungi can increase the quality of a harvest. They can also increase the ability of crops to compete with weeds and enhance their resistance to diseases by priming plant's immune systems. They can make crops less susceptible to drought and heat, and more resistant to salinity and heavy metals. They even boost the ability of plants to fight off attacks from insect pests by stimulating the production of defensive chemicals... But over the course of the twentieth century, our neglect has led us into trouble. In viewing soils as more or less lifeless places, industrial agricultural practices have ravaged the undergound communities that sustain the life we eat.... A large study published in 2018 suggested that the 'alarming deterioration' of the health of trees across Europe was caused by a disruption of their mycorrhizal relationships, brought about by nitrogen pollution." from Before Roots chapter by Merlin Sheldrake.
"We do know, that this fragile, generative world has been damaged by intensive farming, pollution, deforestation and global heating. A third of the planet's land has been severely degraded and 24 billion tons of fertile soil are destroyed every year through intensive farming, according to the Global Land Outlook. Topsoil is where 95% of the planet's food is grown and is very delicate. It takes more than 100 years to build 5mm of soil, and it can be destroyed shockingly easily. This destruction and degradation of the soil is created by intensive farming practices such as heavy mechanised soil tilling, which loosens and rips away any plant cover, leaving the soil bare. It is also caused by the overgrazing of animals, as well as forest fires and heavy construction work. These factors disturb the soil and leave it exposed to erosion from wind and water, damaging the complicated systems underneath its top layer... We are losing good soil at an estimated 100 times faster rate than we can remake and heal it. The world's soils are thought to store approximately 15 thousand million tonnes of carbon - 3 times as much as all of our planet's terrestrial vegetation combined. Soils hold twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, and when soil disintegrates, the carbon is released. In the last 40 years the soil in the UK's croplands lost 10% of the carbon it could store. In a time of climate crisis, soil's quiet potency, its ability to store carbon safely, is utterly essential to our future survival.... We know that soils are being destroyed, and that with that comes a higher risk of floods, and a more unpredictable and unreliable food and water system. An Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecostem Services report in 2018 told us clearly that land degradationis already putting the welfare of two-fifths of humanity at risk, and that urgent action is needed to avoid further danger. There are many things we can do to protect soils, and the organisms, plants and connections that thrive within them. Actions that can support and heal soil structure include
Such regimes allow soil structure to remain intact, and protect the soil by allowing crop residues to stay on the surface. " from Strange Soil chapter by Rebecca Tamas. |
Due to intensive farming techniques and chemical fertilisers this has occurred:- The BBC has produced an article as to why modern food as lost its nutrients. |
The following about trees in pavements show why when the roots are denied access to air, water and nutrients even the fungi cannot work to support the trees. Pavements of Funchal, Madeira |
The following addition of this mulch improved the clay soil, so that A 150mm deep mulch of mixed peat, sharp washed sand and horticultural grit was applied on top of a heavy clay soil to improve its structure, and stop the plants therein from drowning, at £10 a square metre. The mix was:
The following was then sent to me:-
and the following was sent to me in October 2004:- An unsuccessful planting scheme had left bare areas of garden as plants failed to survive winter in the waterlogged clay soil. The loss of numerous plants and the cost of replacing them had left us disheartened. It was evident that remedial action was need in the form of a mixture of gravel, sand and peat to create an organic loam. Approximately six inches was added in April and left to settle and do its job. By July there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the soil and the plants. Shrubs with sparse, mottled leaves were looking glossy and robust, overall growth had increased (including the weeds!) and the soil was holding its moisture well. But the biggest difference came in the confidence it gave us to transform the garden. The borders used to be a no-go area between May and September as the clay baked and cracked, but the new soil was easy to handle and weeds could be successfully removed. We realised that there are no quick fixes - the key to a healthy garden is rich, nutritous soil. Once our plants began to thrive we were optimistic that, with good advice, we could create a garden to be proud of. |
More Details |
Cultural Needs of Plants "Understanding Fern Needs |
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It is worth remembering that especially with roses that the colour of the petals of the flower may change - The following photos are of Rosa 'Lincolnshire Poacher' which I took on the same day in R.V. Roger's Nursery Field:- |
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Closed Bud |
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Opening Bud |
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Juvenile Flower |
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Older Juvenile Flower |
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Middle-aged Flower - Flower Colour in Season in its |
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Mature Flower |
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Juvenile Flower and Dying Flower |
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Form of Rose Bush |
There are 720 roses in the Rose Galleries; many of which have the above series of pictures in their respective Rose Description Page. So one might avoid the disappointment that the 2 elephants had when their trunks were entwined instead of them each carrying their trunk using their own trunk, and your disappointment of buying a rose to discover that the colour you bought it for is only the case when it has its juvenile flowers; if you look at all the photos of the roses in the respective Rose Description Page!!!! |
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There are 180 families in the Wildflowers of the UK and they have been split up into 22 Galleries to allow space for up to 100 plants per gallery. Each plant named in each of the Wildflower Family Pages may have a link to:- its Plant Description Page in its Common Name in one of those Wildflower Plant Galleries and it does have links:- to external sites to purchase the plant or seed in its Botanical Name, to see photos in its Flowering Months and to read habitat details in its Habitat Column. |
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Links to external websites like the link to "the Man walking in front of car to warn pedestrians of a horseless vehicle approaching" would be correct when I inserted it after March 2007, but it is possible that those horseless vehicles may now exceed the walking pace of that man and thus that link will currently be br My advice is Google the name on the link and see if you can find the new link. If you sent me an email after clicking Ivydene Horticultural Services text under the Worm Logo on any page, then; as the first after March 2010 you would be the third emailer since 2007, I could then change that link in that 1 of the 15,743 pages. Currently (August 2016). Other websites provide you with cookies - I am sorry but I am too poor to afford them. If I save the pennies from my pension for the next visitor, I am almost certain in March 2023, that I could afford to make that 4th visitor to this website a Never Fail Cake. I would then be able to save for more years for the postage. |
