March 2009 - Hedge laying
As planned, the hedge alongside the garden is being laid and we arrived to find two men hard at work, cutting out the tall growth and laying it to one side in graded piles in the field next to the garden. There is a sudden openness along that side of the garden and it all looks very different. This should allow more light to the apple trees and to the garden and improve air circulation generally.
Newly laid hedge
It was lucky we turned up when we did, because they had started a huge pile for burning and a lot of wood had already gone up in flames. We introduced ourselves and asked them nicely if we could have the good stuff, rather than it being burned. They agreed and left us several big piles of hawthorn and cherry. Both make excellent firewood and will add to our growing winter wood pile.
The lower hedge lets in a lot more light
Also growing are the levels of the new compost bays. Every time we go past, another huge dollop of pig manure and straw has been added, or more chicken bedding or grass cuttings. We had been looking out for the couple who have the pigs and when we spotted them one Sunday morning we went over to say hello and be introduced to the pigs. There are six pigs, a mixture of Gloucester Old Spot and some of the more usual white pigs that you see in fields about the country. They are plump and noisy and very lively.
The couple who keep the pigs are John and Jenny and they live just across the green from the farm with their two dogs. They’re a similar age to us and have similar interests – they keep chickens, before which they grew a vegetable garden. Typically, just as we decide that we really like them, we find that they are planning to emigrate to New Zealand in May! As the years go by, there seem to be fewer people I really want to get to know, and I can’t help the disappointment of knowing that they will be leaving so soon.
Away from the garden, I got the heated propagator out and started seeds of tomatoes, chillies and sweet peppers, which all benefit from extra heat to germinate. Other seeds were on hold as we were hoping to move within a couple of weeks and didn’t have space where we were for the many trays of seedlings that I was impatient to get going. The plants would just have to catch up once I got them in.
Some things can be started in the soil and be covered over with a light fleece to protect them and keep them warm – carrots, parsnips, coriander, spinach for example, but others I prefer to sow into pots or modules to protect them from the slugs and mice who will naturally take advantage of moistened beans in the soil or the juicy new growth of lettuce. There was nothing for it but to wait, which is something I am not good at.
© Copyright Miranda Hodgson 2009