HIGHER MORWELL GARDEN DIARY
1st November 2016
Just like last year, two days of unseasonably warm and very welcome weather at the change from October to November. More leaf collecting, a major stump pulling, tree moving and a visitor in the polytunnel.
There are many stumps of old trees that need to be removed, but this one near the plum tree has been a nuisance for grass cutting and had started to grow again as a tree. So we thought. When I removed the small willow tree growing at the side of the stump it became obvious it was just a random seeding, but having got that far I set about the stump. It resisted strongly as seen at the top picture. I tried a hydraulic jack with a pressure of one and a half tons to move it sideways with little result. The mattock! Almost in desparation I smashed as many lumps as I could from the top down, result was I eventually cut through the root holding it and out it came. Now in so many pieces it should be easier to burn as seen on the bonfire patch. To show how compacted earth is the soil I’d removed easily filled the hole again without the stump!
The bed just below the polytunnel and near the disappearing leylandii was seriously overplanted with both shrubs and trees. This tree was struggling to find light hence the shape, and to add to its misery the area around it was covered in black plastic sheeting to “control” the weeds. Once it was relatively dormant we took the opportunity to move it - there wasn’t a huge root system unsurprisingly. It has been staked upright and we hope will burst into leaf and flower again next spring.
This was a surprise. We’re sure it’s a mole, there has been visible mole activity along the eastern border moving steadily towards the polytunnel and now our feet tell us there are tunnels when we sink into them. Moles are not at all gregarious so it is likely there is only one, and they have a diet of 80% worms. No envy there and no immediate danger to our remaining crops. He/she could damage roots while digging but the polytunnel isn’t especially active at the moment so we’ll wait and see if any more evidence of digging appears or moley just continues south towards the field next door.