Bog Myrtle & Peat

While the first batch of oats I planted have come to nothing at all, the second experimental strips seem to be flourishing. I was starting to worry over the past few days that it had been too dry for the young plants, but now the rain has finally come, they are looking quite promising again.

The ditches aren’t draining the hill as I had hoped, but the water table has been lowered and the soil isn’t as wet as it would have been if nothing had been done. Clusters of young oat plants bunch together unevenly in the black soil, and the whole effect is one of thoughtless and misinformed agriculture – which is precisely what it is, I suppose. The crop won’t be good and most of the young plants will strangle one another out, but until I tried it for myself, I was never going to know how to get it right.

I don’t think it would be over confident to say that now that I have built up some knowledge on planting oats, when the main batch goes in next spring I will enjoy immeasurable success.