Bog Myrtle & Peat

I am learning the hard way about arable farming. When I sowed oats in the shepherd’s garden a fortnight ago, I didn’t do a terrifically good job of raking in the seeds. As a result, chaffinches and goldfinches seem to have made light work of the spilt food, tucking into it with great delight and leaving the husks to blow around the garden.

Two weeks later, an extremely thin scattering of oat shoots have emerged from the ground, and the patches seem far more profitable for dandelions than anything actually useful. When I went up to sow the other recently drained and tilled patch today, I went for overkill. Coating the soil with seeds, I hope that, if a similar percentage is again eaten by birds, enough will be left to make a decent sacrificial crop for the black grouse.

Yet again, I have both fingers crossed…