The Weir Garden - First Visit of 2023

 The Weir Garden is a National Trust (NT) garden less than 10 minutes' drive away and is consequently our most visited NT property. A ten-acre 18th Century riverside garden renown for its spring bulb and flower displays. The Garden receives about 250,000 visitors per year. Here is an account...

A Chill Wind is an Ill Wind - Part 1

"If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it"    Lucy LarcomAlternatively, try draughtproofing! This post describes a small draughtproofing project I undertook in 2021 and 2022.Our front door, sited at the bottom of a stairwell, faces north and is, at times, the coldest part of...

Getting Ready for the Big Garden Birdwatch

"I would like to paint the way a bird sings"  Claude MonetThis weekend (27 - 29th January 2023) is the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch and a chance for everyone to try their hand at a citizen science project. Find a comfortable spot, indoors or out, where you have a good view of your garden...

The Cost of Food and the Benefit of a Kitchen Garden

 "One should eat to live, not live to eat"  Moliere"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world" JRR TolkienI may be stepping out on a limb here, but I think most people consider food shopping a distress purchase in much the same way as refuelling...

Hot Composting #4

If you are thinking of going down the hot composting route then one of the first questions you will want to ask yourself is: what size of hot compost bin will I need?HOTBINs come in 3 sizes: 100, 200 and 450 litres. The Green Johanna is available in only one size (330 litres) whilst the Aerobin comes...

Electricity Generation - Are Wind and Solar Cheaper than Fossil Fuels?

 I am going to let someone else (Rosie Barnes), far more qualified than me, answer this question by pointing you toward two recent videos she put out on her YouTube channel (Engineering with Rosie). In the first video, Rosie compares the cost of electricity produced by coal, gas, solar and wind. Best to watch this one first ...... because the second video repeats the analysis but adds another...

First Garden Snowdrop of 2023

 Mary saw the first tight snowdrop bud around the 4th of January but this is the first photographic evidence of an open flower on 14th. The flower probably opened some days earlier but we just didn't notice.First Snowdrop in the Garden (2023)Last year's first snowdrop (2022) opened around...

Dark Skies

 Google reminded me of this photo taken 9 years ago. Not 100% sure where it was taken but bearing in mind it was the middle of January (i.e. winter), I suspect it was the Isle of Wight where Mary's parents lived.The photo also reminded me that CPRE has been sending out reminders for Star Count...

Laundry Day - Which is Better? Wind or Sun?

I am approaching this interesting question from an energy-efficiency and carbon-intensity viewpoint. Firstly, some basic considerations on how to minimise running costs and environmental impact:Step 1: Make sure your appliances are as environmentally friendly as possible. We have a LG A+++ washing machine...

Heating Degree Days

In the previous post, I mentioned that one of the data outputs from the Weather Station is the Heating Degree Day (HDD). The relationship between mean daily temperatures and daily HDD is illustrated in the plot below for our Hereford-based weather station covering all 12 months of 2022.Figure...