Mushrooms

We've had a day in the garden, while the biomass system continues to be installed.

The remaining green manure in the kitchen garden has been chopped and dug in, in preparation for planting the beds over the next month or so. We moved a few more bags of leaf-mould, which I collected at the weekend, down to the 'compost area': we were donated several plastic composters by a neighbour, which we'll use to store the leafmould, when we get round to siting them and transferring the leaves.

Next to the coal-bunker outside the back door, there's a small triangular bed (with sides of about 3 foot) which has had a sorry looking holly growing in it since we arrived. It's never looked attractive: stunted, poorly leafed, and dismal. I dug it out this morning, and wasn't surprised to find that it's been struggling from a shallow bed: probably only a foot deep, with loads of gravel in it. We've topped up the soil with some compost, planted a red-stemmed bamboo: Fargesia scabrida 'Asian Wonder'. It's meant to like a sheltered spot, part shade or sun, so hopefully it'll thrive. It should, when it gets to its mature height, be more attractive than the holly—and productive, too.

We also took one of the poplar logs, which I'd had cut to a two-foot length, and implanted it with oyster mushroom impregnated dowels. In about six months, it should yield a crop of tasty mushrooms, and then continue doing so every six months for a few years. A medium-term project, but hopefully a successful addition to the food we grow.