02-10-2011, 10:05 AM
13
Re: Milo's Garden in Cyprus
Thanks so much for all your praises I have passed them onto OH, who will bask in them
he has started cutting back now, something we do more often here. The shrubs can die in the middle here easily with drought conditions, so you can chop back quite severely, what looks dead can suddenly spring to life! The Conifers are the biggest job, but the branches are not nearly as thick as UK types. The job is big but fairly easily done, the same as UK they are only chopped back once, the shrubs at least four times!The snakes in the garden are rare we have only ever witnessed three in the garden, one about two metres in length, but they were the friendly variety! There is one species only to watch out for, that is the blunt nosed viper, a bite would kill a dog or cat quite easily, a human has enough time to get to hospital to be treated. So deaths are rare thank heavens. It's not a prolific snake keeping away from humans, but it was once and when the British colonized the island years ago they introduced the Cyprus whip snake which eats the BNV for breakfast. The Whip snake can grow very long it's black and looks menacing but it's a big softy apparently! I wouldn't bother to find out myself. They also keep rodents down which again can be a problem here.
We have lots of lizards and in the rockery by the Pool have a couple living there! Chameleons are harder to spot but we see them from time to time. The crickets and cicadas at night are those that make that lovely sound that reminds you you are in a warm climate.
We have a grape vine as well, but again problems with birds and insects means the fruit is got at all the time! We have hung blank CDs up to keep birds off, but the mice seem oblivious. Just the sort of fruit you expect to grow easily and it's not! OH has Patricia Jordans books on gardening in Cyprus which gives plenty of insight.
We have been told that the minerals in the well water help the garden grow so well, but we decided against grass it needs so much watering and can look very bad, we have a neighbor nearby who has a nice lawn but the grass is coarse looks nice but not nice to sit on or walk on IMO.
When Spring arrives in Cyprus, its amazing how green the island goes, after a mild hopefully wet winter it's a treat, unfortunately the weeds that grow here are huge!
It's like anywhere, it don't look good unless you work on it most of the time. The temps we have just experienced were high, many times hitting 40c you cannot work in that heat, now it's pleasant at high 20's and we can work until the heavy rains hit after Christmas. Lots to do.
04-10-2011, 06:40 PM
19
Re: Milo's Garden in Cyprus
Thank you all, I wanted you to see a Cyprus garden and didn't expect such lovely remarks!Bob.b It has to be said, that photos of a house or garden that are bright with blue sky in most of them, do get people thinking that's nice, if you see both in the wet weather it's not so pretty
cream houses and terra-cotta tiles are pretty normal in Cyprus or white houses with dark blue shutters! When you get a sea backdrop then you are into wow! But those are for the very rich folk, we are just village peasantsMany UK expats in fact the majority are pensioners, some early retirees on private pensions as well, and in our small village we have english, welsh, Scottish and Irish! Many have bought properties, but just as many rent out their UK properties then come over and rent here.
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