Thoughts and Musings about day to day happenings at our Lower Leigh Farms and Sedum Green Roof News.
Contact Sedum Green Roof on Tel: 01747 830 176 – Monday to Friday: 9am – 4pm.
Or if you prefer to email please use this address: info@sedumgreenroof.co.uk
16th March
Have just returned from Thailand having had the most wonderful holiday. While everyone at home was shovelling snow we were basking in 34 degrees of sun!
Luckily no damage at the farm although cut off completely for a few days. Hopefully this weekends amber warning will not be as bad. Lovely break and glad we missed it all! The sedum is being planted in the polytunnels so for those wanting sedum roofs let us know and help the environment!
Mud and more mud life in the country!
The endless battle with the mud. Today however we have sunny weather, still the fields are really too wet to do much. The polytunnels have the modular S Pods in and they are looking great. Matty has laid some with daffodils which look so pretty, hopefully Spring will be with us soon. The track to the farm is so bad but there is nothing we can do until we have a prolonged dry spell and we can start to repair! Today is lovely though. Been a quiet month but I think everyone has suffered with either colds or the weather has just been so awful no one fancies putting up a green roof!
January 28th
Storm Georgina did some major damage on the fields of Lower Leigh over the past few days. The fields are completely sodden and the tractor is doing so much damage that we are trying to keep any vehicles off the fields. The wind managed to whip the black mats up which the Sedum is grown on and the S-Pods or modular Sedum Trays were scattered all over the place. Thanks to Pete Ruth and Matty most of it is all back safe and sound. I just wish this awful wet weather would stop so that the fields can dry out and we can get some work done.
However on a brighter side the Daffodils are beginning to raise their heads and Brian, our resident Peacock is growing his summer tail, so something maybe happening!
In the meantime we have been spending time clearing the barns and preparing for our next big Sedum orders. This year looks as though its going to be a good year as we have several huge orders lined up. We are looking for help, anyone in the Shaftesbury area who would like some spring/summer work on the fields here at Lower Leigh, do ring Caroline in the office, 01747 830176 It will mainly involve looking after the Sedum Mats and preparing the Sedum Modular trays and then preparing orders etc. If you can drive a tractor it would be useful.
Every one seems to have gone down with this awful cold/flu which leaves you coughing for weeks. I thought I had escaped it but no….arrived yesterday. So today am huddling in the warmth of my studio finishing my painting of Vicky. Vicky is a circus hoop teacher and I love what she does so decided to paint it. Here below is one days work.
Off to clean my wellies now which are so caked in clay that it is almost impossible to walk in them. Roll on the Spring.
Elaine Carp Director Sedum Green Roof
We will be adding a great deal more pictures and articles surrounding our new work for 2018.
At the moment we are completing work on all the flat roofs in Carnaby St London. Due to security I cannot publish all photos but will try and get some to show you.
Sedum Green Roof has also been working on major projects for Marks and Spencers as well as many others all around Britain.
Now the new site is up we can post all sorts of information on our latest projects. New pictures and updates will be published soon.
20th January 2018
New website now up and running which is great excitement. Thanks to the wonderful Shalini who has been helping us get it up and running. Now, hopefully you will get more blogs and updates.
I can just see the beginnings of my bulbs coming up which is a sure sign that Spring won’t be too far away I hope. Been really wet and cold here. Unfortunately the farm is based on clay so the fields are very sodden. Not ideal for dog walking!
We lost our lovely old labrador Bob before Christmas. He was just under 18 years old which is a pretty good innings. We do still have our lovely Bruce here though and he is the same age and doing well.
Above is a recent painting I did of the two dogs. Bob, who passed away is on the left. Bruce is still very much alive and active. He suffers from terrible arthritis but is under medication. They have had a wonderful life on the farm and spend lots of time up on the Sedum Fields with our main man Matti.
Once the rain has stopped I will start taking fresh photos and publish them.
In the meantime a very Happy New Year to everyone.
Elaine Heseltine Carp, Director at Sedum Green Roof
Interesting summer. Boiling hot and lots of people complaining that their sedum had turned red. This often happens when there is no rain for ages. A quick good watering should help. The sedum will be fine though. Its just under a bit of stress. Pretty hard to kill it off!
New website is coming together now. Should be live fairly soon. That will be a bit of excitement but am madly hoping I can get some more pictures as most of the pictures taken by clients tends to be on their iPhones which is not really high enough quality for the websites nowadays. So if you do take any pics try and send them high res or raw as this would be great to put on the site.
Lovely picture of our very old labrador dog Bob (17) walking across the sedum on the farm. Just goes to show you can walk on it with no damage!
Some other pictures I have also included to show you how well the sedum has been growing on the farm this year. More updates later but hopefully on a brand new site soon.
Elaine Carp, Director, Sedum Green Roof
Been waiting to update the site to make it mobile friendly so haven’t been on here for ages as I thought it was about to happen! These things always take longer than you think.
Well its been a very busy month. The lovely weather is great but we have had loads of phone calls about the state of some peoples Sedum. If it goes red don’t panic but it is probably a little stressed. It has been very hot! I suggest if you can give it some water, just spray with a hose pipe. Some help like miracle grow is a good idea as well. You can buy an adapter to put on your hose pipe which will incorporate the fertiliser as you spray, it works very well. Don’t worry too much most of the time there is no problem, they are pretty hardy plants. Make sure if you can that any weeds are taken out.
Sedum is growing well and the field is looking very tidy and lush.
Lots of birds this year on the farm, we seem to have had the best year for the owls and the Kestrels but the Jackdaws are taking over which is a pain.
Excited about the new site which hopefully won’t be long now and all mobile friendly!
Elaine Carp director Sedum Green Roof
Been a busy few weeks. Everyone now back in the stride of getting all the sedum planted up and tidying up the fields ready for the spring. Matty and Co now have a lovely little hut with woodburning stove to keep them happy when its cold and windy, and wet as now!! Chickens still shut away due to the Defra constraints and the bird flu outbreak. I hope it doesn’t get too bad, I would hate to see all the culling as there has been in France and the rest of Europe.
We are trying to update the website and make it more user friendly, especially for mobile users. There have been a few problems due the the fact we have to change the language but hopefully all will be resolved soon. Please bear with us if you have any problems, we are trying to rectify everything now.
Hope you have all got over your new year celebrations and lets hope 2107 is going to be a great year! It will be interesting if nothing else!
Elaine Carp director Sedum Green Roof
Well, been ages since I have updated. The reason is we are trying to upgrade the website but it is taking far longer than I thought. Everytime I go to write something I am told…no wait we are about to go live, but then there is a hold up so apologies. Hopefully very soon we will have a new mobile friendly site. Always a bit nail biting but cross fingers.
Been an extremely busy summer and the field looks amazing. Matty has spent ages reorganising things and with help from Gary and Mark its been a busy but great summer. Now they are growing in the polytunnels as the weather is beginning to turn, saying that it has been pretty mild! As usual the mud has arrived which I hate. No matter what you do the fields always seem to get messed up. Still thats one of the things you have to accept living in the country!
The other thing we have had to do is shut all the birds up on the farm as required by DEFRA. Don’t really understrand the logic behind it but evidently we can let them all out on the 6th Jan. How does that work?
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year. Kind regards all of us at Sedum Green Roof .
So far this winter it has just been mud all the way. Awful weather. We have been so waterlogged and the field just looks terrible. The orders have been coming in thick and fast after a quiet December however. Its been hard for Matti to keep up with the mess on the field and trying to lay the new mats. We actually prefer it cold rather than endless rain. I hope Spring comes along soon and we can relax with a bit warmer and drier weather.
A new shelter for Matty on the fields has now been built. The roof on the old hut has finally given up. Hopefully they will have somewhere warmer and drier to have their lunches and breaks now!
The rest of the farm has been fine but we did have a very strange thing happen a few weeks ago. For some reason over night someone emptied several sacks of red rat poison over our yard. Luckily we spotted it in the morning before the chickens and peacocks and other livestock found it. We thought we were going to lose all our livestock but it seems we caught it in time. The police think it may be a case of mistaken identity. We have crossed absolutely no one and had no cross words with a single soul. We have now installed cameras which I can’t stop watching even though absolutely nothing happens except a few chickens wandering about! Oh well keeps me happy.
Lots of big orders this year and Richard had some fantastic meetings in London for some very big jobs so all is looking good for this year.
Hopefully my new blog page will be up and running soon and we can show you more pictures. In the meantime if there is anything you would like to chat about just give Caroline in the office a ring.
