Winter Activity

shades of grey - and shades of bonfires to come....

The colours are muted but there are signs of activity nonetheless.  Prunings and cut wands lying between the rows show that work has been under way for some time.

catkins are beginning to open up

On the lower bloc the wands have been stripped away from the base of the trees and top-pruning has just started.  That  blue flag on the third row shows where work begins next time.

just planted

Since nearly all the trees on the plat are of the one variety, namely 'Kent Cob' (or 'Lambert's Filbert, as it is also known),  I recently decided to introduce something different. This young tree is of the variety 'Cosford'. Because Kent Cob is not - according to the scientists - self-fertile, the plat relies mainly on the wild hazels in the hedgerows and others which are planted here and there on the plat. An additional pollinator can do no harm and will add interest. These two were supplied by the nursery Frank P Matthews Ltd of Worcestershire and Nick Dunn, Managing Director of the company, brought them along when he came to give a talk at the KCA Nutters' Supper in November.

Today the morning started out windy but dry but then the rain came on. No, that's not the sun or the moon in the picture below: just drops of rain on the camera lens.

sheets of rain!

Now it was too uncomfortable to dig another hole in the stony ground.  The second little tree must stay in its pot waiting for a finer day.  Meanwhile the first one is bedded in and fluttering its flag in the face of the weather.  

All is quiet on the plat; but will it snow tomorrow?  The forecasters say it might.

All quiet for now.