The Meadow Makers' Network Forum

I would embrace your water! We have a not dissimilar situation (Shropshire) with a triangular shaped field. At the bottom is a naturally wet area (I think a very old path of our river, an old meander perhaps - now very wet). Rather than try and dry this out, we embraced it and made it wetter. We got...

Jenny re laying the hedge and your dogs - a laid hedge done well should be stock (and dog!) proof. Are you concerned about them getting under/through or over?! I have lurchers and used to have one that could jump high. Before we got our hedge laid our current lurcher did get under the hedge once thr...

The only issue with planting in March/April is that there is now a trend of warm, dry springs and summers which can make establishment difficult for young hedge trees - depending on location/soils etc. You may need to consider mulching them to retain moisture? Jan/Feb is a good time to plant.

Nettles, dock and hogweed are all signs of high nutrient levels in the soil leading to these sorts of plants dominating. Tussocky grass indicates low or under grazing (often more 'damaging' to grassland/meadow plants than overgrazing). You may need to start from scratch and remove the top layer of s...

It's good you left the bramble patch until winter. I think I would have just kept it anyway for future springs and future warbler nests?

The farmer who bales and takes away our hay feeds it to his cows. He and his son are quite a fan of the hay - they say it's really nice quality and the cows love it! There's never been any issue about the rattle in it. Though one part of our field has been a bit overrun with rattle this year, they s...

Keep an eye on CPRE, the Countryside Charity - they are lobbying for greater protection for hedgerows and have carried out research on the environmental and economic benefits of restoring the UK’s hedgerow network. and will be presenting this to the House of Commons in September. They are also runni...