Author: ARB76_HolmeG

October 22nd

After the dreadful weather associated with Storm Babet, we were concerned about the condition of the ground on the plot. The drainage channel in next door’s field had become silted up and was blocking the flow of the stream. The result can be seen in the images below.

However, whilst I was away on Saturday morning, the team set to work restoring the channel behind the wall in our neighbour’s field, so that the water could flow freely again. And, flow it did, rapidly – with what seemed to be a huge sense of relief…

So, all was well by Sunday morning and the scene was one of bright blue skies and glowing sunshine.

We were able to plant 800 daffodils into the ground – Pheasant’s Eye and Mount Hood varieties. These should be able to be seen from Low Lane and the farm track running down to it, some time in April. As the years pass, they should naturalise and multiply, providing a carpet of pale yellow for all to enjoy. It seems fitting that there will be a good number of people who will know that they were part of the initial planting.

The wildflower meadow has been a joy to observe. As we ended the summer, the final job was to scythe the meadow and collect the cuttings.

We had such high hopes for July and it started off wonderfully. Warm weather meant that all we needed to worry about was watering. How things changed later on in the month. A cold and wet end continued into August and really made things tricky for the team. What made things worse, was this was the exact point I departed for a family holiday to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. I did manage to find a communal vegetable growing space in Vietnam though…

Tra Que Vegetable Growing Village, Hoi An, Vietnam.

The local Beavers group were looking to earn some badges to do with growing. We hatched a bit of a plan. They could grow pumpkins in time for Halloween. First they came down and sowed their pumpkin seeds, watered them and hoped they’d grow into small plants that would be able to survive out in the main plot.

Then they came for another trip to plant them …

June saw the plants really kick on. The warmer temperatures helped to keep the slugs away, however, as the heat wave took over, watering became our priority.

Rich told me he could build a bailing machine in half a day. He was wrong… it took the whole day – but it’s really good! We have collected up the dried grass and successfully created some bails of hay.