Spring at Honeydale

5/26/2015 11:25:00 am , 0 Comments

Spring at Honeydale





We’ve been planting grass and wildflower margins at the edges of the fields to create pathways to walk around and we’ve also sown our Dry Land Herbal Ley in one of the arable fields. The seeds were broadcast with a spinner before rolling in. For many years the 11 acre field was used for growing barley so the soil has been rather neglected and the aim is that the herbal ley, which will be down for 4 years, will help to remedy this. We will be watching the growth of the different species contained in the ley with much interest. It rained all day after we planted it so we’re expecting to see the first shoots in a week or so. Since there’s a water source nearby, the plan is to manage the field with livestock, mob grazing with sheep. 

We’re hoping to harvest seeds from the sainfoin crop in the polytunnel, so we’ve introduced bumble bees to pollinate the plants.



The wildflower field is blooming with cowslips, red clover, tufted vetch, lady’s smock, buttercups, yellow rattle, birdsfoot trefoil, sorrel, hedge bedstraw and bee orchids, growing among the sweet vernal grass, meadow foxtail, and other meadow grasses.

The sheep are grazing well on the lush spring growth, with the lambs growing particularly strongly, along with the ewes which we will be shearing soon.





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Barley

5/07/2015 10:36:00 am 0 Comments

Now the soil has warmed up we’ve planted a strip of barley in each the arable fields, a total area of about 4ha, retaining what was grown on the farm before, and it’s already started chitting. Get the combine greased up - it looks as if we have got a crop!

Sam has topped the new wildflower area on what was previously arable land, which often has a problem with grass weeds, especially blackgrass. The blackgrass is an annual so cutting it should control it and stop it shedding seed. The wild flowers in the same area are a mix of perennials and annuals so it will be interesting to see whether the cornfield annuals come back this year. At Cotswold Seeds we are regularly asked for advice about how to manage wild flower meadows and weeds so it will be interesting to see what happens on our own farm.





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