Building the NM&RC
#91
Finally got around to shopping some basic plants today. About time, one might say, after almost three years..! :oops: :

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Now it's just a matter of figuring out where everything should be. It doesn't look all that much in the pic, but I was promised it would make a great ground cover later on. Only evergreens and perennials for now, annuals and color splashes will come.
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#92
It's about time Svein, we were about to send the model railroad police over to confiscate your stuff and give it to somebody that would actually use it! Icon_lol Seriously it's good to see you back at it. Thumbsup
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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#93
Thanks, Mike, as if I didn't feel bad enough already..! Icon_lol

Here are a couple of shots from just this morning. I am testing the location of the different plants and bushes, and will let them stay this way a couple of days for evaluation before making any changes. As you can see, I still have a full tray of perennials to spare, so I guess maybe I went a little overboard when shopping plants this weekend... :

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#94
I have updated my home page with a list of the plants used, for those who might be interested.
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#95
(Edited Sunday morning, just about the same text as I lost Saturday afternoon)

On the (so far) hottest day of the year, it's nice to have a couple of big pines blocking the sun. I used the lawnmower quite vigorously and got rid of some rather large weed around the layout. Later, Vigdis came by and helped me remove the weed on the layout itself. We also removed the weed cloth and added another 5 bags of soil and 1 bag of compost (which was all I had laying in the garage at the moment), as the old soil had settled and compressed quite a lot in the last three years.

At around 2 PM, the sun had moved around the trees, and it became to hot to work anymore, but here's what it looks like now:

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I don't know if the Spanish slug (Arion vulgaris) is a problem in America, but here in Norway they are considered a big pest problem, and it's not uncommon for garden owners to pick hundreds of these creatures every day. Luckily, we have never seen any Spanish slugs here, but when I posted the pics of the potted plants on a Norwegian forum, I was strongly recommended to get rid of all the potted soil emediately and use fresh soil instead, as the potted plants were known to carry slugs and/or slug eggs. They even advised me against having the potted plants standing on top of the soil where I had placed them, as the slugs could spread!

Anyway, after digging and removing weed for about 10 minutes, Vigdis suddenly cried out: Slug! I suspected the worst, but to my relief, when I came over and saw the slug, I emediately recognized it as a Leopard slug (Limax maximus); a predator and natural enemy of the Spanish slug! It chases other slugs away from its territory and even eat their eggs, I couldn't have asked for a better "tenant" on the layout!
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#96
The planting is done, with very good and much appreciated help from Vigdis! Smile :

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There are some more pics on my homepage.
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#97
Svein,

that is a very nice work

But how you define "hot"? Earlier in this thread i presumed, that Norwegians define air temperatures above -20°C as "warm" and we discussed thereabout.

Cheers Lutz
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#98
Lol, I guess it depends, but when the temperatures rise up towards +40°C, I consider it quite hot! Icon_lol

I don't have an exact measurement, but the digital thermometer outside my kitchen window reads a maximum of 36°C in the last 24 hours.
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#99
Svein Wrote:Lol, I guess it depends, but when the temperatures rise up towards +40°C, I consider it quite hot! Icon_lol

I don't have an exact measurement, but the digital thermometer outside my kitchen window reads a maximum of 36°C in the last 24 hours.
WOW!!!
Thas was still hotter than we have had it last weekend during the Fremo meeting (32°C):
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But was still hot enough to warp tracks in the fiddle yard. I hope your garden layout is immune to this.

Cheers Lutz.
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Ouch, that doesn't look good! However, I suspect the warped track has more to do with the wood framework shrinking than the nickel silver track expanding. Add a couple of missing expansion gaps, and long straights like that are a disaster waiting to happen.

Whatever the reason for the warped track, you have my sympathies, and I hope it didn't do to much damage to your train schedules! I am a FREMO member myself, and have been to a couple of FREMO meetings here in Norway, but I have yet to attend one of the larger ones in Denmark or Germany.

I haven't noticed any warped track on my garden railroad, maybe because there's hardly any straights at all. Plus, only the turnouts and a few of the ties are screwed to the framework, allowing the rest of the track to move quite freely. There are, however, a couple of kinked track joints, mostly due to poor tracklaying and bending the track by hand. One of my planned projects this summer is to rip out both end curves, use a rail bender to bend the rails into smooth and even curves, and put it back together. I also want to put down the few pieces of track still missing; the outer curve by the slope, and the third track at the station, which continues past the terrace. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the summer...
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Recovered some cheap solar powered LED lights from storage, and placed them on the layout for testing:

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The summer turns to autumn. Nice to see a lot of activity from outside critters, as my own activity has been minimal:

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And nature creates its own development, far from my supervision:

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Looks great Svein! I only just began planning my outdoor layout in my head. I am glad to see more work on your layout to inspire me.

Dave
-Dave
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Good to see you are still at it!
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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Thanks, guys. To be honest, I haven't been doing much layout work since the planting was finished, other than the occasional weed removal, but I'm happy to report that all the plants seem to flourish and grow well in their new permanent surroundings. In fact, a couple of them are spreading so fast and vigorously that I probably have to move and replant some of their smaller neighbours already in the coming spring! Smile
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