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Home made Pesto
Our basil is at it’s best and so the first fresh pesto of the season beckons and today was the day. It is easy and quick but ingredients like pine nuts and Parmesan are expensive so whilst it might be a special treat, at least you know that only the best ingredients have been used.…
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Barn Owl Nest Box Installed
I got a hand crafted Barn Owl nest box from my brother for Christmas and it has sat there waiting for the right opportunity to be fitted. Today was the day. In order to fit the electric lights in the roof of the new shed we needed to hire an access platform as it really…
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Pond Invertebrate Survey May 2019
A Bank Holiday Monday provided the time for Helen, her mum Pam and Millie the dog to visit with all the kit to survey our ponds. With five ponds to survey it isn’t a quick job but as the weather was kind to us, it made for an enjoyable and interesting afternoon. The real time…
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Preparing another ‘sole use’ dog field
The bee hives have been moved so it was out with the loppers and secateurs this morning, clearing overhanging brambles and branches to create new paths through the trees. It’s a small field, fully fenced and stocked with a crop of short rotation coppice (mainly alder and sycamore) with some clearings all of which is…
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Growing Firewood – 2019 Update
We originally chose a six year trial for hybrid willow to test the claims made by retailers of the willow for firewood production. Not a particularly scientific approach but, hopefully, it might be useful to share the findings: Hybrid WillowThese were established willow stools which had been previously cut annually to provide more plants. Bred…
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Ponds & Scrapes Update
The recent rainfall has raised the water level in the scrapes to full with each overflow now running. It’s hard to believe how quick the ground recovered from the earthworks.
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Freshly Cut Foliage
Cedrus atlantica Glauca (Blue Atlas Cedar) Just cut and available for collection now! £2/Kg No minimum quantity Collection only
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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…
