Ready to start planting

The new roof is on the shed and it looks good... We are also starting planting now that all the harvest is gathered. Let's hope for a better autumn this year to let the seeds establish well.

New vines have been planted

We have all lended a hand to plant the new vines in rain and hail! Will keep you posted on how they grow. You can iss in the photo the wax that has been put over the top of the vine.

Tractor and harrow

We used a tractor and harrow to prepare the seed bed for the cover crop plots.

Tractor and harrow

Harrow

Harrow

Ploughing so that we can plant some grass

As part of the higher level scheme we are grassing down some of our fields to address soil erosion. I will keep you up to date with progress. At the moment we have ploughed the fields and turned the soil over. We will then made a good seedbed for the grass seeds and then plant them into the soil. With some warmth and good rainfall at the right time the seeds will germinate and the grass will grow.

Planting the Natural England plots

Rolling the field before planting - getting the soil ready for the seeds.

The plots are marked with flags so we know what we have planted in each one and what should be growing!

Planting the seeds

We have been planting the Natural England trial plots for cover crops. What is a cover crop? Well it is plants that are specifically planted by the farmer to cover the ground instead of a food crop such as wheat, oats, barley, vegetables.

Why does the ground need to be covered? Well we can improve the soil quality by planting plants that store nitrogen in their roots, we can improve the structure of the soil so that the soil is not compacted ( pushed together so it does not let water through - this makes flooding more likely as the water cannot get through the soil) or we can use the crops to keep the soil in place so that it does not blow or wash away.

We have twenty four different plots some to promote bees and birds (because they contain seeds for the winter) and some to help soil structure. Please do follow our photo diary.