Growing everyday....

The weather has been really nice and everything is sprouting like mad....whilst I am running around watering like mad...

Ash (Esche)

Alder, planted this year (Erle, dieses Jahr gepflanzt)

Alder, planted last year (Erle, letztes Jahr gepflanzt)

All the way from Germany....

All the trees I am planting this year came all the way from Germany.

Amazingly they have only been in the ground for 2 weeks and the downy birches are already starting to bud.

Downy Birch - Moorbirke (40cm)

Grey water system

Finally SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) has come back and approved of our greywater treatment system. All I have to do now is convince the nice building control officers that I can construct and install a home made straw and woodchip filter to "British standards".

In the meantime I have started planting trees in the greywater discharge area and made a small "soakaway". Of course nothing will soak away as the ground water level is just 10-20cm below the surface this time of year. So the trees will have to grow quickly and soak up all the water coming out of our house. The soakaway is just there to prevent land movement over time.

 

Willow tree

Earlier this year I was given two stumps of willow by our neighbour. Rammed them into the ground and although I didn't hold much hope they are doing well.

April 2010

June 2010:

What else has happened ?

There has been plenty of other things going on in the background.
After putting up the rearing shed and moving the laying hens into a 6th of the space we ended up with a mud puddle. Chris (family) spared some of his precious time away from his beloved xbox and made a gravel path.

The pigs have been busy producing fertiliser. Loads of it.

After separating Doris and Boris I spent some time collecting all their droppings and adding it to the compost.

I also planted 25 alder trees that Nancy (helpx) was going to plant but left abandoned.

First I dug a whole large enough for the roots to fit in and about 30cm deep.

Then I put the tree inside the hole and filled it with soil. Simples ;-)

Just need to add a mulching mat now to keep the grass from growing. Some of the trees had started to wilt but hopefully they will all recover.

Whilst there was no volunteers at the project I started building an outdoor wood store. First I took the bottom off three pallets.

Then I filled the gaps on one of them to use on the weather side to keep the rain out.

Then I stood the three pallets up, braced them together and added a roof.

Chickens love it and are using it as a shelter. With a bit of roofing felt it will make a good outdoor store.