Mowing paths through the meadow

Something beautifully simple about mowing a path through a grassy meadow. We haven't been at the field for a long time, a mothers day lunch was the only visit this year. But I finally had a day off, the sun was shining and the grass growing fast.

The trees have survived the winter, maybe lost one or two. The horse chestnuts seem particularly vulnerable. The fruit trees we put in last winter are looking great, blossoming and strong. Lets hope they produce.

Anya's scots pine

Theo's pine

Lucas's rowan

I spent a day in the winter painstakingly preparing ground to plant yellow rattle seeds. In an effort to encourage wild flowers, growing yellow rattle apparently denatures the soil. This discourages the grasses, enabling wild flowers to flourish. My patch of ground looked worrying grassy this week. I am hoping its early days.

Normally at this time of year we have had a dozen sheep grazing and keeping the spring grass growth under control. However Philip hadn't got round to it yet, not helped by our lack of communication with him, so the cow parsley has had a good month of wet and now warmth, without nibbling ewes.