Harvesting Hazel Sticks

There has been a lot of work on the new tea room and toilets in the last month. Floors have been excavated and relaid, new windows installed and extra work space added. We were very interested when we saw that the builders were soon to be laying the concrete floors, as we are looking for things others don't want. Luckily for us there was some concrete left over that we were able to acquire. We now have a small concrete floored bay in our yard, suitable for woodchip, compost or manure. We are hoping to extend the area in the future, to make several bays for storage.

We were off into the woods last month as it is now the ideal time to collect the hazel sticks that we use for supporting peas etc, before they start to grow leaves. It was a bit of an adventure for Debbie and myself. The entry to the wood was a little sticky so we decided not to drive in. We collected all the pea sticks we required for the gardens, tied them on to the back of the truck, and got ready to leave. Unfortunately, as we were turning the vehicle round, the wheels spun and it slid into the soft field! Oops. We had to ring the woodsman to rescue us.

All the remaining root vegetables were lifted and stored last month:carrots, parsnips etc, and the areas cleared. We then hired a rotovator and dug over the entire kitchen garden ready for the coming season. This has proved to be a lot easier than the old method of using an antiquated motorised, single bladed plough! The plough is very heavy, smokey and only works in one direction. The benefits of the modern rotovator are almost endless.

We have used up an old grass heap, on a new bed up the drive. The old grass heap must have been about 3 years old and had rotted down sufficiently to spread over the new bed. This bed, next to the Spetchley Church, has now been planted with some hollies, but there is space for several other shrubs that will also be going in in the next couple of weeks.