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Learn from other people's mistakes

Practical projects, planned properly

Six jobs that most people taking on land end up doing. For each one: what to decide before you start, what you will need, and the mistake we see most often.

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These are practical starting points, not legal or technical advice. Rules differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and they change, so use the links on our Resources page to check the current position before you begin.

Plant a hedgerow

A new native hedge shelters stock and crops, gives wildlife a home and marks a boundary that can last for generations. Most of the work is in the preparation.

Level
Beginner-friendly
How long
A weekend for about 100 m, with help
Best time
November to March, when plants are dormant and the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged
Why hedges earn their keep

Decide before you start

  • Check who owns the boundary, and whether any grant or scheme covers the planting (and what it lets you plant).
  • Mark the line and check for overhead lines, drains and buried pipes before a spade goes in.
  • Choose native species that suit your soil and area: hawthorn and blackthorn as the backbone, with hazel, field maple, dog rose, holly or guelder rose. Copy the hedges that already do well nearby.
  • Decide how you will protect them: rabbit and deer guards or fencing, and a way to keep weeds down.

What you will need

  • Bare-root whips, roughly 40–60 cm (order early)
  • Spades for notch planting
  • Mulch mats and pegs, or a plan to mulch
  • Guards and canes
  • A string line

Worth knowing. A double staggered row at around five plants per metre is the usual rule of thumb. Keep a metre clear of weeds around each whip for the first few years, and keep the flail off it in the bird-nesting season (roughly March to August).

The classic mistake. Planting into long grass and losing half the whips to the first dry summer.

Fence a paddock

Good fencing is cheap insurance. The stock stay in, and you stop losing evenings to chasing them. Fence for the animals you have now and the ones you might have next year.

Level
Intermediate
How long
A day or two for a small paddock
Best time
When the ground is workable: not frozen, waterlogged or baked hard
Compare fencing and gates

Decide before you start

  • Decide what it must hold. Sheep, cattle, horses and pigs need different fencing, and barbed wire is a poor choice for horses.
  • Walk the line and check for public rights of way, watercourses and buried services.
  • Plan gates and water: a gate wherever you will want to move stock, and drinking water for every paddock.
  • Try the layout with electric net or tape first. It is a cheap way to find out what works before you commit to posts.

What you will need

  • Strainer (end) posts and struts
  • Line posts
  • Stock netting or wire suited to your animals
  • Staples, wire strainer and tensioner
  • Gates
  • For electric: an energiser, earth stakes, insulators and tape or polywire
  • A post driver or rammer

Worth knowing. Line posts only hold the line. The strainer posts take all the tension, so set them deep and brace them properly.

The classic mistake. Skimping on the strainer posts, then re-tensioning the whole run every spring.

Keep your first hens

Hens are a friendly first step into livestock: small, quick to reward you and forgiving of beginners’ mistakes. The basics done properly matter more than fancy kit.

Level
Beginner-friendly
How long
A weekend to build and set up
Best time
Spring, when the days are lengthening and the ground is drying
Ask about hens on the forums

Decide before you start

  • If you keep 50 or more birds you must register them with the Animal and Plant Health Agency. Smaller flocks can register voluntarily. In a bird-flu outbreak housing rules can apply, so know how you would shut them in.
  • Check your tenancy, deeds and local council rules, and have a word with the neighbours.
  • Plan a dry, draught-free, well-ventilated house with perches and nest boxes, and make it fox-proof: secure at night, with mesh buried or laid out as a skirt.
  • If you want to sell eggs, read the Food Standards Agency and APHA guidance on egg marketing first.

What you will need

  • A hen house and run
  • Feeders and drinkers
  • Layers pellets, grit and oyster shell
  • Bedding
  • Boots and a hand-wash kept just for the birds

Worth knowing. Good biosecurity is dull and it works: wash your hands, keep feed and water covered, and keep contact with wild birds low.

The classic mistake. Leaving the pop-hole open at night. A fox needs only one unlocked door.

Start a veg patch or market garden

Start smaller than you think you should. A well-kept ten-metre square beats a neglected quarter-acre every time.

Level
Beginner to intermediate
How long
A whole season
Best time
Plan in winter and sow from spring
Look up a term in the glossary

Decide before you start

  • Pick a sunny, sheltered spot with water nearby, and check how well it drains.
  • Test the soil, or at least dig a few holes and look at it.
  • Choose your beds. No-dig with a compost mulch is popular and cheap on labour.
  • Plan a rotation across four groups (brassicas, roots, peas and beans, and the rest) so you are not growing the same thing in the same place each year.
  • If you want a polytunnel, ask the council whether you need planning permission. Size and use both matter.

What you will need

  • Spade, fork, rake and hoe
  • Compost or well-rotted manure
  • Seed and module trays
  • Fleece or mesh against pests
  • Water butts and a hose
  • A notebook

Worth knowing. Sow little and often. A row of lettuce every fortnight beats a glut in one week and nothing for the next six.

The classic mistake. Digging a bed far bigger than you can weed.

Heal a wet, poached field

A field that turns to mud every winter costs you grass, stock condition and time. The cause is often not what it looks like.

Level
Intermediate
How long
Weeks to a full season
Best time
Late summer and early autumn, when the ground is at its driest
Measure the field with the converter

Decide before you start

  • Dig several holes to see whether compaction, a high water table or blocked drains is the problem.
  • Check ditches and outfalls. Are they clear, and is water moving?
  • Before any work on a watercourse, check with the Environment Agency, your Internal Drainage Board or your council. A permit or consent may be needed.
  • Give the field a rest in the wettest weeks, and move feeders and gateways round regularly.

What you will need

  • A spade and a soil auger
  • A ditching contractor, if the outfalls need work
  • Hire of an aerator or sward lifter
  • A reseeding mix
  • Hard-core for gateways and tracks
  • Portable fencing to rest areas

Worth knowing. Fix the cause first, then the surface. Aerating a field whose ditch is blocked only gives the water more places to sit.

The classic mistake. Tipping more stone at the gate while the outfall stays blocked.

Store muck and make compost

Muck and compost are free fertiliser and soil food, as long as you keep them where they can do no harm.

Level
Beginner-friendly
How long
An afternoon to set up
Best time
Any time of year
Closing the nutrient loop

Decide before you start

  • Pick a site well away from ditches, streams, springs, wells and boreholes. The Farming Rules for Water set minimum distances for field heaps, so check the current rules with the Environment Agency.
  • Choose level ground, and a hard base for anything that will stay put for a long time.
  • Think about the neighbours and the prevailing wind.
  • For compost, mix “browns” (straw, wood chip) with “greens” (manure, grass) and keep it damp, not soaking.

What you will need

  • A fork or a loader
  • Bins or pallets for compost
  • A cover for the heap
  • A notebook, to know what went where and when

Worth knowing. Muck stacked and left for months turns into something you will be glad to spread. Compost heaps reward turning.

The classic mistake. Piling muck at the field gate next to a ditch because it is handy. It is the classic way for nutrients to end up in the water.

Planning a big one?

Post your plan and ask the people who have done it. Then keep the parts list in your account so nothing gets forgotten on the day.

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