I had never heard the expression "Stumperies" until I read it in the thread "Chelsea, Best In Show…What do YOU think.". I had to Google it and lo and behold, I already have one! We had an old tree stump in the garden (cut down at least 20 years previously) and I got our gardener to remove it for us. He was going to take it to the dump but I said I would hang on to it and I stuck it in my north-facing fern garden. I stuck it in beside my ferns and Primula and have since added Hostas. Now I know it is a "thing" I will have to learn how to make the most of it. Like adding Lichen. I believe it is just a case of spraying the area with 50:50 Live yoghurt and water and then painting undiluted seaweed fertiliser on top. I'll give it a go.
Once when i had a tree surgeon to cut some branches off my oak tree he mentioned it i thought it was to do with food but didnt say anything good job i didnt. I would have looked a fool lol
@Jocko you are in good company Prince Charles has one. When I moved in here I spent a while digging out old stumps and rotten roots; stumperies had a some attention in the press recently, so they all ended up stacked at the far end of the garden. Over the years this pile has gradually rotted down, I have added occasional stumps from removed shrubs, it is full of insect larvae and the badgers occasionally dig into it for a snack. It would be better in shade rather than full sun, as then I could put ferns on it.
Interesting @Jocko, let us know what you get on/in it! Was just reading about this sort of thing! Apparently half-burying deadwood can encourage stag beetle larvae, but I'm not sure I'd get any here in Notts because their distribution is typically more southern. My wildlife gardening book also mentions using wood that is as varied in size and shape as possible in piles because it creates a greater diversity of gaps for things to inhabit. It's why I plan to add a brash pile as well as a log pile when I eventually make one. Nick
I hesitate to post this but I've been piling up all my winter prunings on the allotment, the bottom stuff will have been there for more than 3 yrs now. It's better than burning it, environmentally, I think.
@pete Plenty to play with there! What would be great would be locating a list of what the best trees and shrubs are for this sort of thing (if there is such a thing), I have lots of syringa and Corkscrew Willow. I don't think the willow is appropriate because it'll take too long to rot but I think the syringa could work. I'm slightly regretting my huge pile of prunings being in a temporary place now because I don't want to disturb anything but plan a border there, my next pile will be a permanent one. @Palustris That's good planting, very pretty! Nick
@Nikolaos , willow is quite soft in my opinion and a mixture is surely better. My pile even has some oak and apple in there, not sure if some beetles prefer different wood. As mine is under trees and on ground covered in ivy and chippings I can just add to the pile every winter.. Probably should be half buried but I'm not sure if that is necessary as at the bottom it's slowly rotting and turning into something similar to woodland soil.
I have no idea what my tree was. As I said it was chopped down 20 plus years ago, long before I came on the scene. The roots were in the ground all that time and have not done much rotting so it will easily see me out.
When I re-read my first post, "I got our gardener to remove it" it sound like we have "staff". We looked for someone on Gumtree to cut our huge hedge and found a young gardener who had just started his own business having worked with a garden contractor since leaving school. Since then we have got him in to do the heavy work we are unable to do ourselves. He lifted grass and rotovated a couple of areas. He doesn't do fences but he came in and helped me replace fence posts for my long fence. He isn't cheap but he works like a trooper, he is extremely reliable and always does a good job. The CEO makes sure he is well-fed while he is here and we get on great. He always makes time for us even when he is very busy.
Busy today but just popping in to share this segment of The Great British Garden Revival on stumperies with Chris Beardshaw, covers a lot of interesting aspects. It's from about 30 minutes in to an hour. Nick
Had a day out at Biddulph Grange gardens today and couldn't help but think of this post. A whole stumperie tunnel and must admit I've never seen so many stumps.
After the big wind in February 2014, I wanted to put in a big stumpery from all the trees that were blown down. Unfortunately the cost of the logistics to get all the stumps from various fields was prohibitive (for me). I'd still like a proper one, though.
