It is so hot here and the humidity a killer, It rained last night which allowed me to get some cementing (concreting), done. The wife's cats then decided to walk over my freshly laid cement. Paw prints all over.
Everywhere we have been together in the UK, we have collected a single rock or pebble, stone, or a piece of gravel. So my Sempervivums rockery is taking place. From; Yorkshire limestone, Dorset rose rock and fossils, Scottish granite, cobbles from Cornwall, cave rock to river washed gravel from Hampshire etc. etc., are all a part of it. Of course we have always asked, and been given permission to take even the smallest item.
One must never steal from the wild.
I have aged most of the stone by using boiled rice water. I was taught this by a great gardener friend of mine. You throw away the water from boiled rice but; if used wisely and poured over rocks or indeed garden ornaments, stone ones of course.
The starch in the rice water then seems to bind Lichens. Lichens are what we call a species indicator. Which basically means that these amazingly beautiful composite organisms; which cannot tolerate too much pollution, will tell us if the air we rely on is safe. Of course there are lots of other indicators that are natural, that tell us things.
Neil.
