Even for the relatively undoggy, an irresistible photo from one of our customers - thanks Richard! All the life going in a meadow means they are a magnet for sensitive noses, and it's a job to keep our two ferreting about for hours too. It's not just the insects and birds who appear (see Our Meadow in July); I even met a hedgehog marching about last night - only the second time I've seen one here in ten years - which got me nearly as excited as the dogs. Richard sowed both the cornfield annuals you can see here and also our clay soil meadow mix, and is creating a really nice natural area in his garden, with mown paths a la Little Dixter winding between the trees. Looking at some of his other photos the Rattle in the mix seems to have taken, which will be the key going forward. As for us, we've been busy again at Archie's meadow. Mowing it a week or so ago and strewn the hay about Archie has rather brilliantly baled it, saving us a load of work. This bale must be worth a few quid - there's still a lot of seed in it, albeit mostly annuals - or he could use it to seed a new area. We scythed the last strip of meadow, which took no time at all, and it's all looking very well set for a meadow approaching its first anniversary. We've learnt several useful lessons over the last 12 months, not the least being the virtue of patience while waiting for the perennials to get established. I don't think we'll cut it through the autumn, so we will get another flush of annuals next year as there's still plenty of bare ground for them to get established on. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few months to see which emerging perennials I can spot, and do the odd bit of weeding. In the meantime all we'll do is spray off a very thistly section of the field margin to keep them seeding. In contrast we'll cut the meadow here (now in its third year) in a little while - rather later to let some of the later flowering species like Knapweed and Bedstraw go to seed. When we do I'll use my scythe rather than anything mechanical to avoid doing any damage to the fauna, including my new hedgehog friend.
Even for the relatively undoggy, an irresistible photo from one of our customers - thanks Richard! All the life going in a meadow means they are a magnet for sensitive noses, and it's a job to keep our two ferreting about for hours too. It's not just the insects and birds who appear (see Our Meadow in July); 
I even met a hedgehog marching about last night - only the second time I've seen one here in ten years - which got me nearly as excited as the dogs. Richard sowed both the cornfield annuals you can see here and also our clay soil meadow mix, and is creating a really nice natural area in his garden, with mown paths a la Little Dixter winding between the trees. Looking at some of his other photos the Rattle in the mix seems to have taken, which will be the key going forward. As for us, we've been busy again at Archie's meadow. Mowing it a week or so ago and strewn the hay about Archie has rather brilliantly baled it, saving us a load of work. This bale must be worth a few quid - there's still a lot of seed in it, albeit mostly annuals - or he could use it to seed a new area.
We scythed the last strip of meadow, which took no time at all, and it's all looking very well set for a meadow approaching its first anniversary. We've learnt several useful lessons over the last 12 months, not the least being the virtue of patience while waiting for the perennials to get established. I don't think we'll cut it through the autumn, so we will get another flush of annuals next year as there's still plenty of bare ground for them to get established on. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few months to see which emerging perennials I can spot, and do the odd bit of weeding. In the meantime all we'll do is spray off a very thistly section of the field margin to keep them seeding. In contrast we'll cut the meadow here (now in its third year) in a little while - rather later to let some of the later flowering species like Knapweed and Bedstraw go to seed. When we do I'll use my scythe rather than anything mechanical to avoid doing any damage to the fauna, including my new hedgehog friend.