Frantic February !

 Oh ! My goodness ! It is March tomorrow !  We are frantically planting , cutting back bushes , coppicing Willow and Hazel to make for a nice thick native species hedge for the wildlife . Also for a good windbreak between our meadow and our  neighbours field .  They have horses over there and I am so grateful to them for putting up that white tape to stop the horses eating our young saplings while the hedge establishes .

 The Willow and Hazel I am coppicing right down and these nice straight branches will make great bean poles and hopefully there will be enough to make a new low fence around our vegetable garden .

There will be lots of branches to run through our old shredder , if it still works that is , not used it for quite a few years .

I have been planting young Copper Beech , Oak , Hawthorn and others along the rickety old fence . Buying a couple more as and when I can afford them . Also growing some from nuts and seeds that I,ve found on our walks .

I planted in a couple of Hawthorn/ May Trees , not to cut into the hedge but to enjoy their pretty blossom and for the bees to enjoy ...but last year I noticed that one of the branches had grown through the wire fence .....I tried to pull it back through and the branch snapped .   I stamped my foot and cried .....pulled myself together.....

 ...... found some parcel tape to bandage it together with and if you look at the last picture again , you can see how well the tape lasted and the branch has new leaves coming !   It is still growing through the wire fence , but now I am going to cut through the wire to release it ....... phew !

                                 More bush cutting in our vegetable garden .
         I have another Monkey Puzzle tree  ( which I grew from seed )to plant into this space which I think will look quite spectacular in the future .

 Goodness me  my arms are aching , but we really need to get the hedgerow in here back into shape ....the hedge on this side shelters the vegetable garden from the North and cruel East winds .

So the garden looks very untidy at the moment...oh..here's the compost heap ...someone is going to get a good telling off for putting that broken sheet of corrugated plastic there !  grrr !

After I,ve trimmed the branches into bean poles , fence posts and fire wood/kindling ,the next job is to cut back and re-establish the pathway through from here the vegetable garden , down into the ornamental garden ...and it is important to get all this done now before the birds begin nesting .

I  had a lovely surprise the other morning when I opened my kitchen door and found the Cornish Piskies had been and left me a gift of two beautiful crystals !
 I am so delighted and cant stop smiling all day !
Oh ! What lovely warm and sunny weather we are having ! Thankful ! I hope you are enjoying nice weather too . xxx