...paddock pride...

it's a grassy business...

Spring is the time (or before if the weather is perfect for it) to do a bit of paddock maintenance.   A few hours spent in the Landrover with Placebo playing loudly, reaps great benefits during the growing season.  











I try to do this as early as possible, much frowning from John is to be ignored at this time - what do geek-geniuses know about grass?














Chose a windy day so your seeds are caught in a gust and disperse finely and evenly.  Buy an extra bag of herb seeds to add to the grass mix.  The ground needs to be dry, but not too hard, otherwise your seed won't get properly buried by the harrow.
















So first, I throw seed by hand - I have a spreader that goes on the back of 'Bob' (the sit on lawn tractor), but I do a much better job.

Then I harrow, concentric circles, going as close to the edges as I dare.  I do every inch, both ways - I harrow that land to within an inch of it's life, because rampaging Trakehners take their toll.

Tom & Henry keep a beady eye on all proceedings related to their land....

TCJp38 Harrowing

A HARROWING MORNING?....not really xx

I had planned to ride this morning, but the weather threatened to rain as I was grooming the boys, so I wanted to make sure I'd finished all the work on the land before any downfall, it has to be done in a timely fashion harrowing, the conditions have to be perfect, so like a farmer would do, drop everything to get it done.  Spots of rain threatened to spoil the mornings fun  -  I actually would welcome some rain once the job is done.

Lemmy and Min. When you have a job,
it's a good idea to employ some help.

As the title of today's blog suggests I have finally harrowed the winter paddock.  You can see in the photo how dry and poached the ground is, it's difficult to walk on without fear of twisting an ankle.  So, of course, I want to make it better as soon as I can, the boys will be happier I'm sure.  Here they are 'marching' over to the Wishbone field, as I have opened it for the first time after winter, and the grass is quite lush. They can't wait to get there.

Tom, he has such a great neck.

I emptied my year-long cooked compost into the paddock first, leaving only a couple of  forks full of newly added grass clippings to rot further. John skillfully drove the trailer laden with worms and compost into the field so I could add it into the boggy bits - the dips that hold water. 

I have attempted to fill the dips in, I'll let you know if it works next spring. I'm not a big fan of still, stale water lying on the land - in my head, this is like inviting mosquitoes and midges to breed near my horses.  Tom & Henry don't suffer from sweet itch, but I wont take any chances...not with those 2.

I then spread paddock seed onto the bare patches.  I have a spreader which I can pull behind my lawn tractor, but the vibration of the mowers' engine separates the herb from the grass seed and doesn't spread it mixed - so I prefer to spread it by hand.  I can do a much better job than any automated device.  Just a practised flick of the wrist. You can also see from the photo the feint hint of green all-over the surface of the ground, this is the tiny grasslings poking their way to the light, likely from last years re-seed.  The seed stays viable for 5 years so John tells me, which is why after a total coverage a few years ago I only do the bare patches now.  Although, when you get your eye in, you can see the tufts of green, even in the most unlikely of places - I'm talking about the high-traffic routes.  Where the boys trail their way across the once muddy ground - travelling the same route every time.  We suspect this is to preserve the grass, once again they manage their own pasture, all year round.

Tom & Henry finally out in the Wishbone field, where there's grass.

You can clearly see from the photo above the dark patches on the land:  this is where I have attempted to fill in the dents in the field.  I harrowed the new soil into the surface of the land.  Still full of little pink worms, I had a trail of sparrows and a couple of robins following me, looking for a meal perhaps for their babies?

...from this hard and poached field...

...to this smooth and tilled surface, ready for the grass to grow, and easier to walk on, and roll on too.

Jumping into the Landy, driving it in low-box so I can go very very slowly, I harrowed the poached and dry paddock to within an inch of it's life.  I go twice around each way, so it breaks up all the large solid lumps of mud and works all the dried manure from winter into the surface of the land.  These paddocks have had years of not being looked after very well until we bought the property.  And although we have worked very hard catching up, we still have a long way to go. The land needs new soil added, from my compost heap, I can add 6 trailer loads to the surface every year.  Which will help.

I am now hoping it will rain of course, which it's threatening to do.

All harrowed, and last night: 3 April, it rained all night, so that'll help the grass grow, and already little tufts of grass where I have harrowed are sprouting.