SW Corner: Reclaimed


This is how the SW corner has looked for more than a year now, a refuge for frogs, but also perhaps for rats.

But, below is how it looked this afternoon:


And the pile of twigs and branches has now been broken and sawed up into small lengths, which will do nicely as kindling and fuel for the future stove in the future potting shed. Whilst sawing away I gave myself a glimpse into the late winter, 2018, when I can go to the plot with the dogs, light the stove and leave it burning slowly overnight to keep any seedlings from perishing whilst I'm snugly sleeping back at home. It's a very comforting thought.


Things I learned from this wee job:

  • ash stays very springy, and is difficult to snap with your hands so that even 1/2in twigs need the saw
  • Auricularia auricula-judae will grow on dead Ribes negrum wood that has been piled up next to a living Sambucus nigra stump. (See photo below). 


I have placed a twig with several jelly-ears growing on it, (plus several more budding growths) about 12 ins down in the new woodpile, in the hope that its spores will spread to the rest of the pile.

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