January has been very wet. We also had a cold spell before yet more rain.
The lavender plants are dormant at this time, and as the plants sit atop mounds, they don’t get
waterlogged. One thing lavender hates is wet, sodden roots.
As the field was originally a sheep grazing field, we do face a constant battle with weeds like nettles, thistles and dandelions. So this month has been spent weeding along the edges of the lavender rows.
Bethan suggested we trial putting down chopped bracken along the row edges as a weedsuppressor. We’ve previously tried sheep’s wool but the local foxes enjoyed removing it & playing with it. Hopefully we’ll have better luck with the bracken – it looks great.
The wildflower area that we sowed in October, is very waterlogged. When it’s dried out, and seedlings have grown it will hopefully look better but these meadows do take years create.
I’ve germinated back-up seedlings of wild carrot and field scabious in my glasshouse with a view to planting these out in the meadow in the spring.