Walking from Pirton yesterday I took a track that runs uphill to Knocking Hoe. I noticed a clump of greenery that looked like some kind of Spurge or Laurel. As it was on the outskirts of the village I took it to be a garden escape.

 I noticed more such clumps all the way along the scrubby hedgerow and woods which bordered the track. Then the penny dropped. This is one of our native shrubs which for obvious reasons is known as Spurge Laurel (Daphne laureola). The common name is misleading however. It is neither one of the Spurges nor one of the Laurels and belongs to the family Thymeleaeceae.

 The typical habitat is exactly where I saw it: hedgerow and woodland on chalky soil.

 

 Walked out to Knocking Hoe (above) from nearby Hitchin via the village of Pirton. Last time I was hereabouts it was January and the landscape was under snow.

 It's still too early in the year to see much in the way of wildflowers. Nonetheless I was thrilled to see several Pasqueflowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) unfurling. These are a genuine rarity and Knocking Hoe is one of the few sites in the country where they still flourish. Their habitat is sloping chalk grassland grazed to a short sward. As the name suggests they flower around Easter.

  Then I did a brisk circuit over the Pegsdon Hills. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the temperature would have been warm on a summer's day let alone late March.

 

 Cultivating wildflowers can be a hit and miss affair as I alluded to in my last entry. Often the happiest results happen more by accident than design and do not necessarily involve "native" species. The photos above (taken in June 2018) show a couple of neglected and overgrown plots at the allotments.

 One had been colonised by Peach-leaved Bellflower (Campanula persicifolia) and the other by Fox and Cubs (Pilosella aurantica). Both are wildflowers of alpine regions in central and southern Europe which were introduced to the UK as garden plants. 

 Perhaps they self-seeded from somewhere nearby or perhaps a few of each had been planted for some flowers among the veg. Left to their own devices they became prolific- it seems the allotments reminded them of high mountain meadows!

 

 I scattered several packets of mixed wildflower seed on the wildflower patch at the allotment. Mixtures like these have become popular in recent years. Sometimes they are sold as throw and sow "seed bombs". To be honest the results are likely to be fairly random at best.

 Wildflowers do indeed grow wild but many have their niche and do not prosper beyond it. For example the flora of a limestone scarp will be different to an expanse of boulder clay. Soil, aspect, rainfall all play their part. Many wild species in fact have a symbiotic relationship with human activity such as a coppiced wood or a hay meadow.

 So mixed seed will produce mixed results. Hopefully it may contain some that happen to like the conditions in a particular spot. For that reason I sow them as an experiment more in hope than expectation!

 

 All organic matter decomposes given time. Letting time do the work is sometimes referred to as "cold composting". A certain amount of heat is generated but worms do much of the digesting. Then again there is "hot composting" which is quicker. Raising the temperature increases decomposition by microbial activity. Indeed it may become too hot for worms though they will return if the pile cools.

 "Hot bins" can be purchased made from thick polypropylene which retains the internal heat and insulates from external cold. But they cost about £200 so I decided on the DIY approach using two spare "Dalek" bins, one slightly smaller than other.

 

  I lagged the smaller one with some insulation material left over from another project. Basically it's a tougher version of bubblewrap with a layer of foil on both sides. Then I put the larger bin over the smaller thereby creating a double wall bin insulated in the middle.

 

  I doubt it will get as hot as a purpose made hot composter but I'm happy to let time play its part. In any case if it speeds up the initial composting I will transfer the contents to another bin for the worms to finish.

 

 

 

 Trachystemon orientalis is one of my favourite plants for early flowers- and early bees.

 

 

 Late winter/early spring is a good time for pruning and I did just that over the weekend. Trees and shrubs are coming out of dormancy but not yet in full growth. There are some that benefit from being pruned at different times of the year but I got the loppers out for pruning a Sumach, a Bay, an apple tree, a Buddleja and several others.