Fruit Harvest

Hurrah! A post that doesn't include the words dyke, greenhouse, or lawn.....DOH!

Today we picked the fruit. From one tiny pear tree we got one carrier bag full of pears - need to ripen in a box with the apples. From a small apple tree we got about the same amount of apples. Some had been slightly eaten by insects (well at least more than the pears) but we got about 15 good apples that hadn't been touched at all.. and - wait for it........ 4 carrier bags of plums from one 9 year old tree. All were edible, ranging from nearly ripe through to very ripe... we ate the very ripe ones tonight. Hope we don't have the proverbials tomorrow morning. So far so good. Photos of the plum harvest included. My wife is taking one of the plum bags into work tomorrow - all washed of course and for the staff to eat. Not sure what to do with them yet, but we've supposedly got 3 days to decide - unless we give them all away. ONE TREE!! Self sufficiency here I come. Note to self: Man does not live on plums alone.

Dyke

Yet another post about the dyke...sorry. Nearly got to the end today, but mower plug fell in bottom of dyke so leaving it for a day or two to let the plug completely dry out. Wasn't plugged in when it happened thankfully.

WHY you may be asking am I using an electric mower for such a huge job? Well reader, that's a very good question and I'm glad you asked it. Dyke sides are very steep and I would never have the strength to use a mower to do the sides. So then why don't I use a strimmer? The dyke sides are presently very uneven - and this old mower is doing the job of flattening them out nicely, secondly, it's impossible to get to the top of the dyke when standing in the bottom and vice versa. I will be using my strimmer to do the bottom when these top bits are completely done.

Spray starting to have an effect, although probably too early to tell if I've killed everything else in the process!

A plan for today is to prepare more of the far end (where the JCB removed the compost heaps) for lawn. Not long now till I sow another half acre!

Calm day - Spray day

Finally, yesterday, the air was still enough to spray the drive and weeds with general weedkiller. I'm hoping that I've not killed everything else in the garden at the same time. It took 2x 20 litre napsacks of 'roundup' to do the lot. The plan today is to do a little more of the other side of the dyke with the overall aim of having the dykes and the front of the lawn manageable by the start of October. Then the painting, varnishing, oiling, bulb planting & pruning will round the year off nicely. Then I'd better think about getting more logs for the logshed. I have a feeling it's going to be a harsh winter.

Getting back to normality

Apologies to my readers. I should be getting back to normal with blog posts about dykes, greenhouses and lawns again very soon.

Needless to say, with the aid of a very very long extension lead, I've managed to completely mow one side of the dyke down to about a foot of the water surface using our trusty electric steel bladed mower. It was back breaking work to say the least. Now I need to do the other side, but that will have to take a back burner for a week or so as my annual reunion with my friends will be coming up soon. A little late for a housewarming, I should have quite a good turn out this year with friends coming from as far away as Letterkenny in Ireland (Hi Paddy!). It will give me a chance to show off my handy work in the garden over the last 2-3 months.

Greenhouse update: I hate catepillars!!! Lots of foliage devestated by those hungry little blighters, yet I'm determined to have organic vegetables so every evening I or a delegate have been removing our green and stripey friends to the bottom of the garden where thay may either enjoy a diet of nettles or be themselves a diet for our winged visitors. My seedlings are coming up well but they've been put outside as the greenhouse was drying them up too quickly between watering.

Another ground spreading conifer planted. This time down beside the rhododendron near the greenhouse as the border was looking a little sparse in this area. Speaking of rhododendrons, we have a plan to convert the front raised border into a haven for acid loving plants. It's easy to maintain pH different to that of the environment in a raised bed so, thanks to my Mother-in-Law weeding/howing it on a daily basis for the last few weeks, it's now a nice clean slate in which to establish the ericacious beauties.

No posts for a few days as I'm planning to take our boat out again. Soon I will have a boating blog. I'll post the link here when it's up and running.

Week Out

I went back to Ireland for a few days to see relatives for a week. As you can see, the blog has been pretty thin on the ground recently. Don't worry, I will sort out the picture of the garden since the JCB has been in another post.

While I was away, my mother-in-law and her partner kept things ticking over nicely as well as doing other things over and above what I'd been expecting. The lawns were mowed, the beds were hoed, the greenhouse watered etc, but they also did loads more weeding that I'd expected and sorted out the raised bed. Before I left, I had planted some fruit trees (2 raspberry and 1 gooseberry). I dug an 18" trench and filled it with rotted grass... however as this was still stinking and had not completely rotted, my Mother-In-Law removed some of it and added some bonemeal and blood so that the trees would have a chance...... see I'm a total novice at some things!

Planted a few conifers the day before I left, in the spaces left by the removal of old ones. A tall one beside the greenhouse and the groundspreader near the shed. My wife helped with these discovering first hand that Junipers, whether dead or alive, can give you a nasty rash.

I recon I'm back up to speed now on the garden since my time away so things will start to be done again.

Yesterday - JCB Day!

More to come.

More stones cleared from dyke side. Sowed Lupins, Red Hot Pokers, Stock, Wallflower, Iceland Poppy & Hollyhocks. Removed runners from one strawberry plant in the greenhouse. Result, a big tray of strawberry plants.