Current Weather at Strickley

Saturday 20 April 2013

Making the most of the weather

At last the sun is shining and the grass is growing, so it's a rush to get all the spring work done. We've ploughed three fields and will use the same seed mix as last year - wheat and peas undersown with grass. If the weather holds out the contractors will be coming  early this week. Meanwhile Henry and James are busy picking stones (not just off the ploughing, but also a very stony pasture) and rolling. One day the ground is too hard to roll, and the next it's too soft or the grass is too long (or so it seems). It's quite a small window of opportunity, so it's no day off today, or early evening finishes.

And now that the danger of frost seems to have receded, the builder is planning to start pointing the classroom this week.

We've no stock out yet, but surely it can't be long!

2 comments:

derekt said...

I was recently reading about (and saw TV film footage of) non-ploughing cultivation, here in France. The farmer has been farming this way for some years now. Seed is sown into disc slits. No fertiliser is used and he reckons the soil is healthier than ever: hard but crumbly.

He reckons there are other farmers around, including in the UK, who farm in the same way. He has a beef herd and grows a range of cereals - for feed and for sale. He does manure his grasslands.

Thought Henry & James might know of this?

Unknown said...

Henry says - OK, but not for grass seeds.

Thanks for keeping on reading!