Summer

Have a nice summer day!

Green

Our hornbeam hedge is becoming green again :)

Crane

Nearly in our backyard

Championship

We went to the championship Maasheggenvlechten (hedge laying) in Oeffelt.

We saw a DIY tool holder belt hook for your billhook ....... clever and beautiful!

And lots of inspiring hedge laying on this fine Sunday.

Blackthorn

We spotted this blossoming Blackthorn during our walk on sunday.
The Blackthorn in our garden is still asleep :)

Healing Hedge

Finally we layed our first 7 meters of hedge today!

About 10-15 years ago we got interested in hedge laying.

It's a skill still practised in UK today.

We bought our plants for a mixed hedge row 5 years ago.

We wanted to plant these at the end of our backyard but we needed some extra time.

For the time being we planted them, quite cramped, in a temporarily spot.

Since two years the plants are planted in their final spot, growing higher and higher.

So we were in desperate need of some serious hedge laying ;)

We decided we wanted to do this job by ourselves but we realised we needed some practice first.

Today we started our course at (for sale) Buitenplaats de Bonenburg in Heerde.

According to our instructor in the UK they understand the "healing qualities" of hedge laying.

this photo is "borrowed" from someone

Every team (of two people) had to work his way through 7 meters of pricking Hawthorn hedge.

I assisted the kenderman with laying and weaving while he was doing the tough bit.
We had a great time, enjoyed our good company and loved the result!

Winter Blossom

Robin

Can you locate Robin in this photo? 

Trimming

 Our hedge was in desperate need of a trimming.

I started this job just using my secateurs and some twine a few days ago.

This is how it looks now.

The job isn't finished yet but it looks better already.

Wonderful (Green) World

Our world turned green!

Last week we had a lot of rain and it was good for all plants and trees.

Saturday the temperature was really nice so at last I could go outside without a coat.

Little sunshine but perfect weather for doing some gardening.

This weekend I was too busy for gardening but this morning that's the first thing to do.

Here you can see our Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) hedge we planted.
We started planting in dec 2009 and due to the frost we didn't finish until april 2010.

We choose this species because it's much more tolerant to wet conditions then Beech (Fagus sylvatica).

9th april 2011

29th april 2012

Now we have just one more hedge to plant.
We wil be planting 25 mtrs of Hornbeam again.
 This job is scheduled for october-november and hopefully in another 2 years
we will have, due to the hedges, much more privacy in our backgarden.