I cannot do much on the allotment at the moment which is a little frustrating back problems.  I am still taking down the 4 silver birch in the garden though.  The way that I do this is to dig around the trunk and expose all the roots or as many as I can.  After this, I tie two ropes as high as I can onto the trunk to guide the tree as it falls.  Next I cut through all of the roots which is not a particularly arduous task if you have a sharp bow saw.  I also put a little oil on the blade to make it even easier.  With my son holding one of the ropes to steady the tree and prevent it from falling in the wrong direction we both pull the tree over.  We cut it up into 1metre chunks and then I take it to the allotment to bury.  As I have said in previous diary entries, the burying of logs and brushwood has a long history in Central and South American agricultural culture.

I call this my Montezuma method.

I am planting my sweet peas for next year now.  They are being planted in peat free compost with a little  myhchorrhizal fungi mixed in it.  Last year, when I did this, the plants grew very well and although some of the sweet peas did not make an association there was a substantial number that did.   I am putting them into the tray dividers.  It is much easier to deal with plants when you use these plastic dividers.  The plants come out with thier little block of soil and the roots are not disturbed.  I could not find any of the bottomless pots in the garden centers at the moment.  I will transplant them when I can get some.  I am planting more than I usually do because several people have asked me if I could plant some for them.

The varieties that I have chosen this year are.

                Chatsworth                                                             Mollie Rilestone

1. Chatsworth for frangrance Thompson and Morgan
2. Molie Rilestone  for  fragrance Thompson and Morgan
3. Lilac Ripple for  fragrance  Thompson and Morgan
4. Royal Wedding for  fragrance Thompson and Morgan
5. Percy Thrower for  fragrance Thompson and Morgan
6. Flamingo Unwins
7. David Unwin Unwins
8. Norman Wisdom Unwins
9. Castle of Mey Unwins
10. Rosy Dawn Unwins
11. Peacock for  fragranceUnwins
12. Lipstick Unwins
13. Red Arrow Unwins
14. King Size Navy Blue for  fragrance Thompson and Morgan.
15. Blue Ripple for  fragrance Thompson  and Morgan
16. America fragrant  old variety 1896 Thompson  and Morgan
17. Miss Wilmott Fragrant old  variety 1901 Thompson  and Morgan
18. Cathy  for  fragrance Unwins
19. Appleblossom Thompson  and Morgan

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 10:59 am and is filed under trees, Montezuma method, sweet peas, mychorrhizal fungi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.