In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Our neighbour mows our field twice a year, the first time in a few weeks after the wild flowers have set seed again, and the second time just before we pick our olives. Robert then strims around our olive trees (80), seems to work OK with just the 2 cuttings.
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In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
This strimming to prevent fire risk puzzels me.Last year when we had those awful fires local councils had verges etc strimmed but then left all the dry stuff, rubbish , glass etc laying on the verge! A potential fire risk!
Unless the dry strimmings are raked up and composted surely they are more of a risk than growth that is alive?
We have the most wonderful orchids on our land which are over in late may so if you can do the first strim then. And the grass etc should be wet enough for it to compost down quickly.If not throw a bucket of water over it.Then in the next spring you can spread this composted matter on the base of the trees.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Thats alot of buckets for 2 acres of land!, poor Robert will be exhausted. But now we have 2 compost bins going and have used our first lot on the orto, we can rake it up and add to the bin in progress.
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In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=myabruzzohome;89085]This strimming to prevent fire risk puzzels me.Last year when we had those awful fires local councils had verges etc strimmed but then left all the dry stuff, rubbish , glass etc laying on the verge! A potential fire risk![/quote]
Seems to me that dry grass lying on the roadside is indeed a fire hazard, but less so than standing dry grass. I imagine the first would burn, but it would mainly smoulder while standing dry grass would flash-fire. (A parallel: when you're arranging wood for a fire in your fireplace, you don't lay it all flat on the bottom, but rather try to make sure there's plenty of space for air to circulate.)
As for the main question, the chap who kept our place tidy last year mowed the olive grove at least four times. That seemed to me excessive, but there are still plenty of wildflowers (including orchids) growing there. This year, I'm going to be a lot less attentive - something along the line of Angie and Robert's approach - and see what happens.
Al
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
[quote=myabruzzohome;89085]
We have the most wonderful orchids on our land...[/quote]
The olive grove neighbouring our land has that orchid as well and I love it! I think its the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Orchid]Military Orchid[/url]. The farmer mows the grove once a year, but there are a couple of these in a sloping angle at the corner of his land, so they get missed. I've no idea how they propogate and we mow our olive grove like a lawn, so it's probably best left where it is.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Pond. Plant some water plants in it. Stock it with some small fish.
You'll attract all kinds of wild life.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Won't that dry out in the summer?
It would need to be in a pretty wet area to be succesful ?
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Yes Nick my cats, my neighbours cats and any other cat that wants to go fishing. Lovely idea without the fish, when we lived in Sussex our neighbour and surprisingly still friend had a huge pond with his prized fish, somewhat depleted after Oscar went fishing, its obviously not true that all cats hate water.
And for wild life, the boar have now come up to our top terrace, there are some very juicy roots they seem to like, how wild do you want your wild life to be?!
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In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
Thanks for all advice so far. Our lads do a very thorough job and everything is cut down to ground level and is reduced to a mulch. Any mileage in not cutting so low?
I do know that traditional UK hay fields are cut in autumn and the hay raked away thus reducing fertility and encouraging the prettier flowers. However dry hay in Italy equals fire risk.
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
not going to offer much advice... but your posting came to mind when i was driving past this field the other day so i took some photos ...hopefully to encourage you in your plans... i generally go past this field every day and it always impresses... changes colors with the light and generally cheers you up....
[url=http://www.italymag.co.uk/forums/album.php?albumid=25]Italy Magazine Forums - adriatica's Album: poppies and olives[/url]
I think you've pretty much hit on the answer yourself. Strimming maybe 3 times a year will allow wild flowers to grow whilst keeping baddies like brambles down. Any less than that and it can become too big a job for a strimmer, any more and you end up with a scrappy imitation of a lawn that goes yellow in the summer.