What a difference a day makes.

Ok, so it's been slightly more than a day, 5 days to be precise. It's the 30th August and we came back from a lovely weekend in the Lake District eager to pop down to the land for a sneaky peek. In all honesty the woodland and its' progress had been on our minds all holiday; most of our walks had an underlying motive, to collect as many seeds, mostly grasses, as possible whilst also looking at the various types of trees, flowers and grass that grow in our forests and countryside.  We really want to keep the land as natural as possible by growing native and naturally occurring species.  Anyhow, what an exciting sight there was waiting for us at the meadow.  Tiny, new shoots of GREEN grass peeping through the mud!!



I did this!

I know it may not look much, but to us these tiny GREEN shoots represent many, many hours of hard work finally beginning to take shape and the beginning of 'The Meadow'; and I am so happy (sad but true!)

There also appears to be lots of dock and more nettle coming through but we will deal with that at a later point (Apparently Dock lies dormant in the soil for up to 8 years, so we realise that this will need some form of control).  And it looks so GREEN; the weather (mainly rain) over the past few days has definitely worked its' magic.

These pictures are taken looking up and down the meadow. As you can see the edges are looking quite lush and there are small patches of new grass seed showing. Have I mentioned how GREEN it looks?

Unfortunately, our optimism with sowing the seeds under the low hanging branches hasn't yet been justified.  It's too early to tell whether or not the seed will take in this dark, damp, area.  We really need to begin chopping or 'raising the crown' of these trees, to allow more natural light through. Ideally, we should have done this before sowing the seeds BUT we were eager (no, not impatient!) to make use of the end of the growing season; plus we were told that the paperwork may take around a month to come through.  Fingers crossed for that; I'm slightly excited and apprehensive at the same time about the prospect of power tools!

Not being the type of person to sit back and relax whilst there is so much exciting work to be done, I made a start on the top corner of 'The Meadow'. This spot must be accessible from the road above as it has gathered a considerable amount of fly-tipping materials (Grrrrr!). So, I have made a start clearing bags of rubbish and pulling up some ivy that is rambling over most of the ground space. I managed to, easily i might add, fill a bin bag full of old shoes! What on earth would make people throw their old shoes into a field? rather random!  That said, it is, or will be a lovely area; it is sheltered at the back by the embankment and appears to get quite a lot of the sunshine.  At present, there are a few ferns growing but not much else. I think it would look lovely filled with colour from early flowering bulbs and other woodland plants; think snowdrops, bluebells, aconites, anemones and  foxgloves.  Or, possibly create a herb corner, it has shelter, provided from the embankment and is a lovely sun trap-perfect for herbs etc.   We also have an idea to keep the large felled tree on the far left, the one covered in ivy, to make some kind of seating out of it and have the area as a 'Magic Corner' where one can sit and gaze across the meadow contemplating...because obviously, one day, I will have lots of time to sit and contemplate.