Living off the land

We have a strip of field which was covered with grass, nettles and weeds:

A local tractor enthusiast ploughed it in the autumn using an old David Brown tractor. The following winter was the coldest on record, which helped to break down the heavy soil:

In late February, 2011, we had the field harrowed using an old fashioned tine harrow. This reduced the soil to a useable tilth:

We then erected a rabbit proof fence around a 24 metre square. This was hard work, especially digging the trench to bury the base of the rabbit netting:

So, by mid March we were ready to start sowing and planting, this shows onions, garlic and potatoes coming on. The spring of 2011 was incredibly dry here, the BBC said that Norfolk was drier than Sub Saharan Africa at one stage. Carrying watering cans of water to the field kept things alive:

Eventually the weather broke and we then had a damp cool summer. Everything caught up, as it usually does. The big problem now is keeping on top of vigorous crops and equally vigorous weeds:

In the foreground – marrow plants, to the left – courgettes, and beyond – cauliflowers, cabbages, Brussels sprouts and varieties of broccoli. When we’ve lifted these plants we intend to sow over wintering green manure.

We bought a plastic falcon and hung it from a bendy pole on nylon wire. It swoops about in the wind and we haven’t had any pigeon damage this year, even though there are lots of pigeons around. As long as it seems to work, we’ll use it.

Wondering what we did with the rest of the field? Some of it has newly planted fruit trees, some has newly planted hazel, for coppicing. The rest is covered in thistles which support a huge flock of gold finches. We intend to encroach on the thistles as and when we’ve the time and energy…

In spring 2012 we finally got round to dealing with those thistles. During the hot month of March we spent 2 days on a slash and burn mission. Three bonfires later, those thistles had all gone. For the time being at least. After much rumination on how we could keep on top of the weeds in the uncultivated part of the field, we purchased a ride-on tractor mower with the intention of mowing them into submission. It then rained for 6 weeks and was too wet to get onto the field, so all we could do was watch those weeds start growing again.

Finally, in early May, a brief interlude in the incessant rain allowed us to put the plan into action.

The small trees to the right of the photo above are some of our fruit trees in our mini orchard, which we planted last year. The slightly misty effect is due to rain on the camera lens. The break in the weather didn’t last long.