The Tree field Skye

The season is closing in and I still haven't quite got all the wood cut to length and in the shelters. I've just not spent much time on it, since there are more interesting things to do. I won't use the wood till next winter, but it could really do with coming out of the grass as some of the alder logs are still trying to grow.
What I have done in the last couple of weeks is really make some progress on my mini hugels. I have a patch of three parallel ones quite far down the hill which are now finished, with the paths in between blended in so there is a gentle ramp rather than a step. These just need planting up now. I have two new aronia varieties planted there which I hope I have managed to layer over the summer, and also some red and white currant cuttings. The upper two beds are a little weedy from growth over the summer, and I guess the lower one will get weedy in time! I have made a little seating area from the turfs under the trees on the uphill side so I have a place to sit and watch over my bushes.

three mini hugel finished

The shell garden with one of my first planted walnuts now has two concentric beds. The original outer one I finished off with a few more turfs on top. I also decided to make a path through it about half way along, since I'm pretty sure I would regret not doing this in future. The middle bed is all finished too. I trod down the edges of the turfs to try and make fewer holes for the mice to get into the nice central core, but I'm pretty sure they will find their way in there pretty soon.

laying sticks for mini hugel

I sprinkled the top with some of the loose grass cut as I dug the turfs. It isn't really enough to make a good mulch, but won't do any harm unless it all starts to grow. There was a fair amount of raspberries growing in from the uphill side. I tried to pull them out as I went, but I expect they will grow back. I guess it doesn't matter too much- they are good fruiters!

Shell garden under construction

I've started on the central bed. I will make this bed a little less tall. The centre is already filled with raspberries, and I did plant some rhubarb there earlier in the year which I hope will come back next year.

Laying out central bed

The shell garden is where I hope to plant out my tea camellia plants. I managed to get some second generation Welsh tea seeds and got really good germination from them. They haven't done really well over the summer - the pots are really making them a bit water logged since we have had a rather wet, cool summer. I may repot them before bringing them in for the winter and hope this rejuvenates them a bit.
I think I will try propagating more fruit bush cuttings and maybe some elder as well over this winter - just stick them in the top of the banks and see what grows. I also have been collecting seeds from various plants around the field: clover, self heal, yarrow, hogweed, common knapweed and spreading them over and between the beds in the hope that some will take.

collecting seeds

 
All in all I've had a pretty productive month. There are lots more beds to prepare, but I feel at last, that one or two areas are coming together. I need to plan seeds and plants for planting in the spring, and work out how to treat the beds over the winter.

Although I should be getting on with getting the last of last year's wood cut and away, and even starting on coppicing this year's trees, I have been continuing with my Aronia mini-hugels. I think now I won't get as many done ready for the spring as I had hoped, and I need to propagate more of the good fruiting shrubs next year as well. Several of the one's I grew from seed have not really shown much sign of fruiting, so growing more from seed (which is very easy) appears to be hit and miss. I have got some rather congested seedlings I sowed this year, but I may just plant them down the boundaries, and select the bushes that fruit well to either transplant or propagate from later.

Earthworks in shell garden nearly complete

The shell garden is pretty well finished as far as earthworks are concerned; the outer arc being dug and mounded up. I have even started to transplant some Aronia suckers there, along with some blackcurrants and gooseberries that were not doing well and were in the way of more of my prospective earthworks. I still need to do a little levelling in the path parts of the arcs - I may just fork them over lightly to relieve the compaction and then sprinkle the whole lot with assorted seeds now, and again in the spring. I don't like the way the earth is standing bare at the moment - I need to remove some of the grass I chucked on the mounds as I went, as it is growing again rather than dieing back. I may see if I can get hold of some more bracken to mulch with. I would use seaweed, but since the dogs love to eat the stuff, it is better put in areas that they don't have free access to. Wet it doesn't do too much harm, but dry it can swell inside and cause harm to them.

Not very good picture of aronia transplants

I have now started on the area over the trackway down the hill from the shell garden. This is up wind from a row of conifers I planted to try and break up the expanse of field that hadn't got good tree growth - now I believe it due to compaction and lack of water run off. There was also a lot of ash planted here which suffered greatly from die back and have since been removed. There is a strip wide enough for 2 mini hugels side by side leading down to where one of my walnut trees was planted this year. This one is in memory of Bill - the father of a good friend of ours - so that area will be 'Bill's garden' around the walnut and the area leading to it is now 'the avenue' being quite long and almost straight.

playing around with sticks in Bill's garden

I spend some time in Bill's garden trying to work out how the area might be laid out. Initially I was thinking of circles around the tree again, but there are so many paths leading in and out of the area I would have been stopping and starting the banks all the time. I laid out the rings with sticks so I could visualise how the paths would be, and left it for a few weeks as I was using the paths. Then I thought of Marianna Marinda's sunbeam design and decided to make the hugel radiate from the  tree instead, and I think this will work much better here. I'll do a central small bed around the walnut and I have now laid it out with 10 beds radiating from there - two of which will form the beds of the avenue and the others lead in the different directions the paths need to take - to my growing area, the polycultures area, and up and down the hill generally. There may be room for a feature bed in between the mini hugels in some directions - maybe a fruit tree, or a planting bed.

the start of the Avenue

I've made a start on the avenue beds as I was thinking about Bill's garden, and am now filling up the central cores of the mini-hugels with woody scraps from the smaller branches of the spruce and alder cut last year.

I've not made very much progress this last month - a little more digging. I've had two rotten head colds in quick succession, so that combined with sorting the shop for christmas and the weather has limited my time outside.
However I have made a bit of a start on 'Bill's garden' with a ring around the central tree. Unfotunately Bill's wife Beryl passed away just this week, so it looks like this will be Bill and Beryl's garden now. Apparently Beryl was a keen gardener, so I'll have to find out if there is any planting that would be most appropriate for her.

Bill and Beryl's garden

The dogs have been 'helping' with the avenue, which I had made a little bit of progress on - having started to cover the sticks in the centre with turf from either side. Whilst I was doing something else Della worked her way from one end to the other hunting, I assume, for an elusive mousie.

 
Before dog (left) after dog (right)

Bless her!

Before dog... after dog...

Nooooo!!!

Nancycam....

A ten minute walk down the tree field in January - just an overview. Not great quality I'm afraid. I think I'll have another go at reinstating the sound on my cameraphone. This was with the proper camera and there is rather a lot of camera shake.

It's fun hearing people you only know through text.

Thanks for the tour Nancy! Did I miss the site for the poly tunnel? I look forward to seeing what you do with it in the coming years.

Oh what fun !  I'll watch this again, this time I will be watching for a sight of perhaps an ----- Ent walking past

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Thanks for the tour Nancy! Did I miss the site for the poly tunnel? I look forward to seeing what you do with it in the coming years.

The polytunnel site is behind me at the beginning. I do turn around before I start walking, and there is just a big pile of soil there. It's taken a while, but now I have what should be the final shopping list, so that will clear out my time and money this year

Deane Adams wrote:Oh what fun !  I'll watch this again, this time I will be watching for a sight of perhaps an ----- Ent walking past

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Ents are pretty shy, but maybe we will get a glimpse during the summer when they get distracted by all the new growth (much too fast...Omm!) There are a couple of glimpses of the dogs though - apple if you spot them!