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Harvesting Holly
As a rule of thumb, we only like to start cutting Holly 1st December but the way the calendar falls this year means we need to start a few days early so that customers can have wreaths made up for the first weekend in December. We have our own holly plantation which is cut in…
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2018 Hedge Planting
Our 2018 hedge plants have arrived so it is crucial to get them planted as fast as possible to give the transplants the very best chance of survival. The plants arrived at 2pm and were all ‘heeled in’ by 5pm in an ‘on site’ trench where they will remain until removed for planting out in…
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Chilli harvest and Autumn tidy up
Now that all our pumpkins have gone (see www.BigPumpkins.co.uk) it’s the quiet time before the wreath making season begins so time to clear out the debris from the poly tunnels, then wash and disinfect everything ready for spring. There are a few productive tomato plants left but all the rest are on the compost heap.…
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Pond Vegetation Survey October 2018
Findings of the Vegetation Survey conducted 24th October 2018
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Autumn Pond Audit
The (hopefully) annual audit of our farm ponds happened yesterday with pond experts Peter and Helen visiting along with Helen’s Mum on admin duties and Millie the dog. Samples of water clarity, ph and electrical conductivity were taken along with the invertebrates and plant life which have taken up residence in the restored farm ponds…
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Work starts in our new Coppice
It really doesn’t seem that long ago that we were pricking out these trees as seedlings and growing them on in pots ready for planting out. It turns out we started planting out in this field in 2010. It was a bit of a milestone to be starting to do the first cut on selected…
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Wild Damson Harvest
It’s that time of year when our wild damsons are just coming ready so time to risk life and limb reaching over the very deep ditch to try and hook the branches and get them harvested. Probably three quarters of the fruit is inaccessible so I don’t feel that guilty about raiding the natural larder.…
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Hydroponic Ginger Trial
As some will know we try and do a little trial of the more unusual in the hydroponic tanks each year. This year it was the turn of ginger. Having read up about it I went down to our local Booths supermarket to find a suitable fresh ginger ‘root’ tuber with lots of nodules on.…
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Scrapes for wildlife
Whilst clearing out are farm ponds last Autumn, whilst the digger was on site we also took the opportunity of putting in a series of wildlife ‘scrapes’. Our scrapes quickly filled up with rainwater during one of the wettest winters on record. The scrapes are just shallow depressions in the land with gently sloping edges, which (importantly)…
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Processing Oak into wood chunks
Processing Oak logs into wood chunks for use in offset smokers It might be Bank Holiday Monday and it might have been a lovely sunny day but all I could think was to get some Oak wood chunks split, sawn and seasoning to replace all those being burnt in BBQs and Smokers. It is a…