RURAL RIDDLES
ACID TEST Q
A
We’ve been told that Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis) is easily grown
and will quickly provide ground cover, so would like to include it on a garden bank where it is difficult to grow much else. The only problem is that it apparently loves an acid soil which ours is not. Apart from digging in bought compost of the type used for azaleas (expensive), is there a way of bringing up the acidity level? Paula and Charlie Goodwin
It might be worth trying a dressing of dried blood – an organic powdered fertiliser with
Blood, sweat and tears!
a high nitrogen content – which will improve the acidity and might, therefore, help with your problem. It is relatively cheap and a little goes a long way: in other situations, one should, in fact, use it sparingly so as not to risk ‘overdosing’ plants with too much nitrogen. I’ve heard it said that dried blood meal will, due to its smell, deter deer and rabbits from browsing your plants. It might work for those particular species but it certainly doesn’t for dogs as whenever I’ve used it in the garden, our canine pets have always been drawn to it!
A FOXY LITTLE NUMBER! I
n the last issue, I mentioned that, with French Property
News now being bimonthly, some queries I receive are, by the time of publication, quite ‘unseasonal’. Nevertheless, they do, I hope, remain of all- year-round interest! In May, Wendy Churchill-
Smyth emailed to say that, while “walking by a garden near Fontenay-le-Compte, in the Vendée, I saw this lovely- looking tree and have so far been unable to find out what it is…” From her photo, I thought it likely to be a Foxglove tree (Paulownia tomentosa) which, according to the Reader’s Digest Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants and Flowers, originates from China and the “heart-shaped mid-green leaves unfurl after the flowers, which… open in May.” As attractive as it is, should
anyone be considering including one in their garden, note that it is fast growing and freely self-seeds – even through cracks in a pavement or garden wall. Apparently it can even survive wildfires and the roots will regenerate!
Curlews are ground-nesters A
lso in May, I was asked – by Guy Williams – about the
status of the Eurasian curlew in the area where he lives in the Hauts-de-France region. He found what he thought was a nest of their eggs while out walking in open permanent grassland, and returned for several days to quietly observe. The status of the Eurasian
curlew is a cause for concern yet, on occasion, during the hunting season in some parts of France, personal research seems to suggest that a certain number (a quota) are legal game – with a temporary ban (moratorium) being imposed whenever thought necessary. As a part of wider research,
the French national hunting office (ONCFS), now integrated into the French Office for Biodiversity, has joined forces with other nature protection NGOs in order to monitor the migration, winter resting places (such as in parts of the Charente) and breeding areas of the curlew; whether they be passing through or resident. Ground nesting, it seems
Beautiful blooms – and the tree can survive wildfires!
that many pairs return to the same territory year after year – some even in the same spot. Others, however, choose different sites… the type of vegetation and lack of disturbance seems to be a deciding factor. Interestingly, those studying curlew suggest that the normal clutch of eggs numbers four, rather than three as seems to be the case in the photo here.
GET IN TOUCH! If you have any ‘rural riddles’ for Jeremy, contact him by email at
jcjeremyhobson@gmail.com Jeremy Hobson is a France-based writer who specialises in all country matters
j-c-jeremy-hobson.co.uk
FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: November/December 2023 105
CURLEW CONCERNS
© W CHURCHILL-SMYTH
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