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.