This triangular 2 acre site just outside Sparkford in Somerset is bordered by the A303 eastbound, a tributary of the River Cam, and Archie's potatoes. It was apparently once a small shallow gravel pit. It was predominantly coverd with bramble and nettles, with some small self-seeded trees.

We cleared the site of the occasional small weed tree and raised the crowns of the willows along the riverbank to open up the corners of the plot to more light. We then topped the undergrowth to get rid of the worst of the brambles and to check the site's topography.

We scraped the topsoil using a JCB and tipper truck. It's not the cheapest thing to do but had to be done to reduce the site's fertility, and realistically couldn't be done by hand. Although the topsoil is good quality, given that the site used to be a gravel pit we were hoping we would find poorer soil underneath the top 2 feet. We weren't disappointed. All that remains to do until the autumn is to spray for weeds prior to sowing a diverse meadow mix of grasses and perennials and a nurse of cornfield annuals.

A month after sowing and all is well. Apart from the grass you can see the quicker growing annuals doing well. No sign yet of the Rattle, which needs to vernify before it gets going in the spring. We have also sown a test area of a local mix, which should be gorgeous, but as it consists largely of perennials and Rattle isn't making much of a showing as yet.

Early March, and despite the hard winter an appreciable difference from November. The annuals are making very good progress and the grasses now much more evident.

Rapid growth now; some grasses flowering, annuals dominating perennials.

Annual nurse starting to flower; Poppy, Corn Marigold, Corn Chamomile and Cornflower. Corncockle from next week...

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