Slow but sure

The rainy temperate weather is making a rich green cover

Meadow Clary is out

The Yellow Rattle seeds I collected from a nearby field last summer, and planted in Autumn, are a real success - about 10 clumps over the meadow

The wall lizards are sunbathing and searching for insect food

And under the village footbridge the Red Kites are nesting - and the mother tends two young chicks

At last the meadow flowers

The meadow looks stronger and more diverse than last year.

Usual carpet of Kidney Vetch on the south facing slope

Creeping buttercup against the house

Majestic Red Campions

Of course Ox-eye Daisies...

...and Red Clover

My one Water Forgetmenot flowers for the 3rd year running

The Goatsbeards seem to be spreading

Bush Vetch for the first time

All in a healthy grassland dominated to date by Upright Brome, Sweet Vernal, Crested Dogstail and Meadow Foxtail

A little history

Our house is 250m above Lake Thun in Bernese Oberland, Central Switzerland - 800m above sea level. It was built on pasture land in 2009, and left surrounded by stony soil - filled in from the foundation excavations - rich in nutrients from years of intensive fertilization. The challenge is to trurn this south facing piece of land into an apline meadow. In Spring of 2010 the stones were removed, the soil tilled, and a flower/grass seed mixture sown.

 

 

 

The side of the house comprised of the same soil in terrace - destined to be an alpine scree garden.

Despite a very dry summer, a mass of greenery germinated - much of it 'weeds'...

...and in one corner it was a monocluture of finger grass - really nasty stuff!

Summer was spent on intensive weed management, by selective glyphosate applications using a brush - except for the finger grass area, where a blanket spray was applied to start over again. The remaining greenery was cut twice by scythe, in summer and autumn, then strimmed short for the winter.

Spring 2011 brought a promising display of flowers and grasses...

...except of course in the area blanket sprayed with glyphosate - which at least was free of finger grass!

A first attempt to terrace the designated alpine garden.

And a baby nuthatch appears on the terrace.

More extensive weeding and cutting including an autumn re-sow.

Spring 2012, the meadow looks patchy and clumpy before the flush.

Signs of germination in the cleared patch, with our new fountain in the background - a gift from the neighbours Fritz & Ursi.

At the back of the house, in the northerly shade, the bank has been weeded and seeds sown.

Germination in the spaces.

A patchy, but weedless, display.

Two weeks of back breaking work to complete the alpine scree garden - furnished with a variety of plants including saxifragea, edelweiss, gentians, seduma and sempervivums.

And on the terrace, Swallowtail butterflies grow on our fennel bush. I collected them, to protect them from the birds, and put them in a box for pupation and hatching. Hope they return to lay 2013's generation.

Spring postponed

The last day of March.

And when the snow melts the meadow is still to flush.

Compared to this time last year.

More like early March last year...

...so we're one month behind!

Even so, the crickets emerge from their burrows to sun bathe in what sun there is.