Farmer Focus: Autumn sowing is done and dusted
© MAG/Colin Miller All is now safely in the ground with no compromises due to the weather.
Many things can still go wrong before harvest is complete, but it’s encouraging to feel one step ahead for a change.
Everything was subsoiled as is the way with our heavy and silty weald clay.
See also: How late is too late to drill oilseed rape this autumn?
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Trials with no yearly subsoiling have shown how much natural consolidation of the soil occurs annually due to winter rain alone.
However, the easiest subsoiling took place on the land that had been down to a cover crop trial for a year, which shows the power that mixed rooting and time can have.
This AHDB trial saw two overwinter cover crops established last summer, then sprayed off, subsoiled and drilled with two different spring covers.
Unfortunately, due to the dry spring, both plots didn’t amount to much, so I drilled the entire field with buckwheat just before one of the few rain showers.
This has been mulched and lightly incorporated with the drill.
The hardest fields to pull the subsoiler through were those with the lowest pH.
We were hoping to lime before autumn field work but rain and wind kept the spreader away, so we have gone with calci-fert again.
It’s amazing to see how, on an ionic level, all those clay particles in the soil pulling together can make a big difference.
With autumn sowing complete, my mind turns to the list of winter jobs that I’ll not complete by the spring.
At the top of this is clearing the gutters on all the buildings; something I’ve done a fantastic job of procrastinating about for the past few years.
I am excited about one job on the list though. I have begun removing willow from a few hedges because it grows so fast and is prolific around the farm.
It is enjoyed by many birds and insects, so the intention is first to carry this out over several years across the farm (more procrastination) and to coppice some where it can be managed.
Where I will be removing it completely, I will attempt to lay the gaps with remaining hedgerow species, mainly blackthorn and hawthorn.
Some of these hedges are on the roadside, so I will need to come up with an unheard-of laying style to pretend I’m following.
