HIGHER MORWELL GARDEN DIARY
31st December 2019
A round-up of the last three months of 2019.
The laurel planted in late
2015 to provide a screen
from the road has grown
to match the height of
the mixed beech and
hawthorn already
existing. Cutting down
the old hazel trees -
probably never intended
as trees - helped provide
more light and better
growth. Once going
laurel seems to grow very
quickly so has proved
ideal and is being used
elsewhere in the garden.
This was 18th October.
The field gained a new
stock fence against our
east and south
boundaries, and about 60
cows were brought in.
Always curious as to what
we were doing in the
garden, they especially
liked bonfires and would
gather to stick their
heads over the fence and
watch. And eat anything
they could reach. I asked
Adrian the farmer to
move the old wire
fencing left as the cows
would get tangled in it.
He did.
Another 50 laurel saplings
were bought and planted on
8th November along the
east boundary, hoping to
repeat the success of the
roadside laurels. The rabbits
have largely left the
saplings alone apart from
one that we grew from a
cutting, and that has had to
be protected. We thought
laurel was poisonous but
seems not to our rabbits.
The eight beehives are
supposedly housing resting
bees until next spring,
however we’ve seen bees
about now and again if the
sun is out and it isn’t too
wet and cold. There is
almost always something in
flower in the garden
somewhere for them, we
just hope they survive as
cold and damp are not
ideal bee conditions, and
we’ve had plenty this
winter.