Finished rebuilding the withy ring again

Withy Ring 

I have finished rebuilding the withy ring again, with the help of my wife and kids this weekend, even my three year old son was down and wanted to help dig. Many hands make light work and we got holes dugs, piled in the manure, planted the willow. All done in  less than an 1 hr. All good, and they're well protected, from rabbits this time anyway. We still have at least one from the original circle. Thirteen in a nice circle and I may put in more over the next couple of years, let see. The picture was taken from a mobile phone its not the best.

The reports in the news have been about how this year looks likes its going to be a very dry year and so far it seems to be true. I can't remember a February this warm. The trees are doing well and it looks like the Quince trees may be the first to go into blossom this year. The buds are already showing a hint of yellow. However lets wait and see in a couple of weeks.

Small amounts of rabbit damage on a couple of low branches. but generally all well. I may get some more manure from the diary farmer to put around the trees again as the manure has already been sucked down and decomposed into the soil. The manure contains lots of straw and that should retain water, with some additional leaves acting as a mulch. Which may be useful if its going to be a dry year. I have to start planning a head, in case it gets very dry later in the year. I have access to a bore hole and I should be able to give each tree some water probably in the evenings, later in the year. I may have to call in help from friends and family.

Two Bumblebees found in this week

The bees are happy and are flying in and out of the hives and I have see a number of bumblebees around they must be hungry as two managed to get into my kids bag  which contained apples that they like to feed the horses, in the paddock nearby. This is worrying as its only February and I won't expect them out and about this time of year. They must be finding it hard to locate pollen and food for themselves.

Damson Merry Weather King Buds 

I visited Sandwell Valley farm and park over the weekend with the kids. The farm have a great walled garden with loads of fruit trees and I noted that the Damson Merry Weather King looks like it may go into bloom fairly soon.

Withy ring and home made rabbit guards

3 Ladybirds picture taken by my daughter

I helped mend the fencing and assist with the general apiaryclear up at the Sutton Coldfield branch apiary last weekend, in Sutton Park. Itwas great fun, and not as much hard work as I had envisioned as lots ofbeekeepers turned up to help.

I got a ride in the Rangers landrover going cross country tocollect some of the equipment and it was still icy and snowy so going crosscountry in the 2000 acre park was something most people don't get to do. Theyalso hold part of the RAC rally car championships through the park every coupleof years. So it was fun. Talking to ranger was also enlightening; the ranger whowas assisting has been working in the park for 30 years and is the only rangerthat hasn't got a degree in some related topic. He told me how things havechanged and some of the challenges that he faces, and it was his first time inthe Apiary area. I told him to come down in the summer on one of the Tuesday eveningsand come into one of the hives.

Witout the new guards

Later in the week I started putting up more of the rabbit guardsaround the fruit trees as some of the trees had suffered minor damage. Therabbit guards are larger and homemade; compare to the suff that was originally there.They are made from some plastic fencing that I have cut to fit around the treeswith the aid of a bamboo cane, let’s hope it works well. As its half term I hada helper my daughter.

I think she really enjoyed it this week I gave her the task to take some pictures and look for ladybirds. She took the picture of the tree ladybirds together. On that tree we found 5 ladybirds, not bad.

With new guard

We managed to get a fair few done, although it may take acouple more weekends to finish all the trees and in truth I started it sometime ago, before the manure arrived, and am only getting round to finish thework, so I have been a bit lacks about it.

I also have some rabbit guards that are higher but will combine them with the homemade one's just to add extra protection. The new guards are pretty basic and are higher than some of the original rabbit guards and should last for a while and give an extra bit of protection

Withy Willows

I also managed to plant a couple more willows, in the willowcircle "ring" I started a couple of years ago. I hadn't protectedthem well and the rabbits demolish most of them so this time I have protectedthem much better. I got a couple of large withy’s and have planted them and amhoping that they take, if they do, the in a couple of years I'll have a willow Stonehenge where I'm hoping kids,family and friends will be able to play, sit and relax, chat and watch theworld go by. I kind of want the willows to merge together so that all the treesmake a nice interwoven shelter, let’s hope it works.

Yeah the snow is finally here

Its been cold which is great, kills off the nasty bugs. Now the snow is here its even better.  It does look like its not going to stay, contrary to some of the newspaper headlines, that proclaim a continued freeze.

I have checked on the trees and they are fine, some rabbit damage but nothing major. I will be putting up large better home made rabbit guards as soon as I have the time. The ones that I had made and put up previously have worked marvelously. It just takes time and next week if the weather is fine, I should be able to do the majority of them. I'm just recycling some old fencing.

On one hand I want the cold and on the other I want it sightly warmer to get some work done, but them I'm sure the bees would also like a warm day just to go out have a buzz around and well go for a poo.

The ground needs to be warm so that the bamboo cane can go into the ground, and deep enough for the rabbit guard to stay in place. It would take a couple of hours, but its time well spent.

I am starting to think about planting some additional willow trees using just freshly cut twigs "withy". I had put some in a couple of years ago about this time of year, a couple of them have done well. Some of them had been gnawed by rabbits and died. This time I'll clear some space and then put in better rabbit guards.

I made some notes on the subject a couple of years ago and have reread them, the notes were from a leaflet I read on the subject.

Willows

Planting new Willows consider the following :

• Using cutting taken from local stock will preserve local varieties of willow. Its cheap and easy to take cutting from local trees.

• With luck your tree will be in residence for a long time, so choose its position carefully. Think about how big it will be when mature and consider the shade it will cast.

• Don't plant willows near buildings, or where the roots could reach a water pipe.

• Think before planting close to ponds, large numbers of dead willow leaves falling into the water can be harmful to fish & other aquatic life.

• You must obtain permission from the Environment Agency before planting a tree next to a stream.

• Plant in January/February when the soil is wet but before leaves appear on the trees.

Steps to take 

• Take cuttings about 2.5 cm think at the base and plant in moist soil in a prepared hole about 4/5 cm deep where the tree is to grow

• Don't just shove them into the ground, it will damage the cut end and lead to infection.

• Water well in dry summers.