We have been sold plenty of hazel pea sticks and bean poles during the last month. I know the weather here has been more autumn than spring and it sounds like we may have to wait a few days for some warmth, but if you have been putting off thinking about supporting your climbing or leggy […]
I expect you’ve had this in your diary for most of the last twelve months. It’s something that’s causing some excitement in our small wood. Seriously; this is important. The Small Woodlands Associationhave, over the last few years promoted this slightly eccentric special week and once again it features on a couple of web sites […]
It’s been 10 months amazingly, but I was back at Woburn Farmers’ Market today. It was cold and I hadn’t put on enough clothes. Also someone had dug up the market so we were pushed across the road onto a lovely bit of grass. After a deal of grumbling we pressed on and it wasn’t too […]
A couple of weeks ago I built a four metre long tunnel using hazel poles. This was for a client who is developing a great garden and wants to grow more veg. She spent the day helping which was great too. The idea is to create something that will carry climbing plants – lots of […]
Spring has arrived with a flurry of orders for pea sticks, bean poles and obelisks of all sorts destined for the gardens of those who are rather more prepared for the coming season than us. Some years we never quite reach a state of preparedness. I’ve made a huge obelisk today, which is an order for […]
Creating a woodland is a slow old business. Since we planted Bottoms’ Corner, our small hazel wood, we’ve been watching every small development with a fair degree of excitement that we tend to keep to ourselves – we’ve found that most normal people don’t particularly see the joy in growing sticks. The first cut of […]
I’ve been trying to keep an eye on butterflies this summer. Not of course checking the company they keep; rather, taking an interest in which of the common species are around at any particular time. Butterflies in the UK ought to be a manageable subject for casual study. There are only around sixty species after all […]
Every so often in July or August, when the bluebell seeds in our bit of ancient woodland are ripe, we collect some and spread them in the new plantation – Bottom’s Corner. This hasn’t been in any way scientific and we haven’t recorded anything. For the first time, flowering bluebells have appeared in Bottom’s Corner this […]
We spent a wonderful couple of hours last Friday in Bottom’s Corner (our small hazel coppice in Gravenhurst). It’s just brilliant; I can’t think of a place I’d rather be in mid April. We’ve been producing bundles of pea sticks for sale at Harpenden farmers’ market and it’s great to be doing something rewarding in such […]