Last bulb planting

 It’s getting a bit late, but managed to get the last of the bulb planting done.

100 addition snakes head fritillary in the meadow. The bottom part is wet through the spring so should be a good area for them. It is difficult to see but there is a subtle dip running down the slope which is always damper than the rest of the field. This seems like a perfect place for fritillary, so I am putting lots in here.

Wood anemones are a great very early spring flower, which form a carpet in established woodlands. As I coppice each compartment I am putting in some rhizomes hoping that they will start the process of spreading. I put them in after coppicing as I then know where the wood piles are going to be (as I don't want to put in expensive bulbs and then cover them with a mountain of wood!). 

The wood anemone does not seem to have been very successful - I have been planting some for 5 years and not really seen any flowers - maybe it takes time to become established, but maybe either the badgers are digging up the tubers in the winter or the muntjac deer are nibbling off the spring shoots. To really develop a woodland flora I would need to have an animal proof fence all the way around - like the 'pale' which would surround an ancient woodland or the activity of gamekeepers int eh 18th and 19th centuries. However, this seems like a huge effort, and I am not sure that i want to exclude the animals (and I definitely don't want to kill them!).

The last type of bulb being planted is Wild Garlic. This plant likes damper shady areas so I am putting more into the dips in the ground within the wood. Again I am planting them in after coppicing to avoid the wood piles. This has been more successful and I am getting more spreading each year.

Wild Service Tree seeds

The pink of the wild service trees along the woodland edges is bright in autumn sunshine. In the recently coppiced areas the additional light has given a noticeable boost to growth and fruiting even in the first year..

The bright orange seeds are dropping out as the pink fruit open, so the seeds must now be ripe.

In previous years I have planted these seeds at this time of year (autumn), but they have not grown - I guess either rotted over winter, or one year apparently dug up and eaten by mice.

So this year I am storing the seeds until spring and will try planting them then to see if this is a bette way of growing a few more of these interesting trees.

More Bug Hotels

 Last years green tree tubes are being put to good use to make ‘bug hotels’. I have cut the tubes into two, and pushed four of the resulting tubes inside each other.

At the back of the tubes I have built a solid board to prevent a cold wind blowing through.

There is the a wrap of recycled chicken wire around the tubes.

This gives the final ‘hotel’ with the old tree posts forming a roof.