Don’t know whether or not Saturday set any high temperature records for the first day of November but for us the spell of mild weather continued with the temperature reaching a very unseasonably mild 17.6°C.
On the plot we had one area which had become a storage area for tree prunings. Lots of these had been there for a good 12 months after part of a laurel and an elder bush were cut back. Some of the prunings were used as supports for sweet peas and pea sticks but many had been left in a very large heap waiting to be burnt.
This is how the area, where all the dead wood and prunings had been piled up. looked back at the beginning of May this year. The pile of branches and twigs became even larger with lots of fruit bush prunings added in autumn. This is how it looked after a couple of hours of dragging out large pieces of laurel and elder branches from amongst the thistles and nettles.
Everything was cut into more manageable sizes for burning. My plan was to burn everything one evening next week. The council have introduced some new rules about bonfires stating that they shouldn't be lit until one hour before dusk. Some plotters took no notice of this with the result that some say bonfires are supposed to be banned altogether. This hasn't been confirmed in writing by the council I've only heard this by word of mouth.
My plan was to burn all our rubbish in one big bonfire one evening around 05 November, Bonfire Night. Everything had been stacked in sorted piles of twiggy material, larger branches and finally any green material such as brambles and weeds.
With heaps of dead wood all over one plot near where I planned to have my bonfire I thought it was a job well done and with any luck it would all stay dry enough to burn next week. Sue thought it was a pity that we couldn't set light to it there and then, rather than risk it all getting wet and soggy, but I hadn't taken any matches or newspaper to the plot to do any fire starting. Our plot neighbour rectified that little problem with some matches, paper and a cardboard box. As you can see the bonfire went well and everything was burnt. By the time we left only a large pile of hot ashes remained.
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A job well done. I've tried to light soggy twigs a couple of times and it's really frustrating. Very satisfying when it all goes up nicely though. I have a pile of ash waiting to be cleared at my plot. I'm hoping the middle of next week will be dry.
ReplyDeleteI'm just hoping I didn't cook the leeks growing close by!
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