This morning, I wondered how the onions were getting on. Great it would seem, as more of them have started to sprout.
This spurred me into planting a few more garlic bulbils. And looking generally round the garden. Which lead to the discovery of snow.
snow on hugel bed no. 3
Not much admittedly, but the curious thing is that, as I noticed before, it seems to stay longer on the hugel beds (or on a heavily mulched area) than on the normal soil.
In view of what I learned yesterday on the PDC, I think there might be an explanation. Clay takes longer to warm up but also cools down more slowly. As the amendments are not clay, could it therefore be that the hugel beds and such have less residual heat in them?
Whatever the reason, because of the cool outdoor temperatures today, we enjoyed looking round a wood burner showroom. I had thought it would be impossible to have a wood burner in the house without a chimney but it seems a flue can be built in.
I’ll put this on the back burner for now. But there are many pluses which I may go into on a future occasion. And in the meantime I’ll keep an eye of those hugel beds.
Growing out of chaos 
That’s an interesting observation about the snow and the clay. It makes sense. You’re so observant.
I’m happy to hear that a wood-burning stove might be in your future. That sounds super cozy.
I hope it will be – got a lot of research to do first. And a lot of saving up. Do you have one, Alys?
We used to have a fireplace, but had it removed when we remodeled. We have “spare the air days” here because of smog and heavy use of fireplaces, so wood-burning fireplaces are now banned, in exchange for gas inserts. I’ve had friends with the wood burner though, and they are cozy. Given the damp climate you live in, I imagine it would be quite welcome.
Defra (department for the environment and rural affairs) sanctions certain wood burners for where I live, so I will have to get one of those. I’m not sure how they are less polluting – it is something to do with the flue perhaps.
My house is not only very new (18 years old) and very small, so I don’t actually have a fireplace. A friend assessed my house for a burner yesterday and suggested I would only a small one, which might cost as little as £600 as opposed to £1500) but the cost having a flue put in would increase the cost to about £4000. That’s about double the cost of getting a new gas boiler.
But gas is non-renewable and radiators not only take up space but fur up (I’ve already had them cleaned out once since I moved in). So, overall, there is quite a lot to consider.
That is a substantial difference in pricing, and a big investment, too. Does your government offer any kind of rebate programs for using something more environmentally sound, or wouldn’t this qualify?
Now there’s a thought! I think in this case there would be no rebate – there has been a lot of money put into insulation (I got a second layer of insulation in my roof space for free. I could also have had cavity wall insulation for free but the house was built with it.) You never know, though, do you?
Good deal on the insulation! You never know…it’s worth investigating.
I think I first developed my observation skills from being a linguist and then a teacher. It’s a useful skill – can be entertaining, too 🙂
Useful and entertaining, a winning combination. 🙂
🙂
stunning up date thank you for sharing have a blessed day Helen
Thank you, Linda 🙂
I would love to have a wood stove. Today is a beautiful day (first one in a long time!) I plan on doing a look through my garden to see what has come up. How lovely you have garlic growing! 🙂
I hope you find something coming up. What do you expect?
I don’t expect much as the winter was more cold than past years. But I did see cilantro of all things! Daffodil’s are everywhere and that makes me smile. It’s always the first thing that comes through. They were even poking through the snow!
Beautiful 🙂