« Routine Maintenance | HomePage | Cold - not much to report »
02/27/2006
Fruit trees
Managed to get quite a lot done this weekend - cold but dry and I spent most of Saturday and Sunday in the garden.
First job was to apply a few cm of compost as a mulch to the plum and apple trees. Also removed a few weeds that were encroaching around the trees. Watered the plants in the greenhouses and put the 'desiree' maincrop potatoes I'd got from Scotsdales out to chit, also.
Spent most of the rest of Saturday tidying up the area round the patio. Really need to take it up and start again, but it's such a big job, so may do it in sections. Pruned the hedge on the right hand side, cut down all the perennials in the beds, pulled out a load of weeds, pruned the Viburnum tinus (a lot of the branches were resting on the patio and had started rooting into the concrete). Spent at least an hour just brushing up. Very pleased with the results - hasn't looked so tidy in several years. The hypertufa bowl I made last autumn was being used as a birdbath by a blackbird - fun to watch.
Got started on some seed sowing - Bruseel sprouts, lettuce, huckleberry, Eucalyptus gunnii & Coronilla glauca. Lots more to do.
On Sunday, I planted out the cheapo fruit trees that Yasmin had bought from Aldi. The Victoria plum is planted in the veg patch, in the bed next to the gooseberry bushes. The soil there is very chalky, so may not be the best spot for it. I dug over the bed, added a load of compost and planted the tree about a foot from the west-facing fence and watered. The plan is to train it as a fan - not something I've done before but I have three books which give details (all disagreeing with each other, which suggests there is no one right or wrong way). The next bed along (the Iris bed), I did the same thing with the Cherry, which is a Morello. The Apricot tree, from all the books, needs protection from frost and I didn't have a free area of south facing wall to plant it into, so put it into a large pot in the greenhouse. The info that came with the tree says it will be 12-20ft (or something like that), so can only hope the pot restricts its growth in a way that doesn't stop it fruiting. It will have to go in the unheated greenhouse, in any case, so maybe not sufficient protection either. As the tree purchase wasn't planned, had no stakes or ties, so will need to do that this week.
With some help from Alexander, I made some minor repairs to the fruit cage walls and roof. It is all looking a bit heath-robinson, but so long as it's safe and keeps the birds out. The Harrods horticultural catalogue (no connection with Mr. Fayed's shop) has some very nice metal fruit cages but almost a thousand pounds for one the right size, so I'll stick with the homemade approach for now.
Cleared some of the ivy from the long, thin strip. Noticed that one of the trees down there has died, so will need to go and take that down before it falls over. It's held up by the ivy at the moment. Was getting a bit dark for that when I saw it. Had a big tidy up of the blackberry path, too - pruned out last years fruited wood, pulled up a load of weeds (still lots of nettles and cow parsley coming from next door) and trained all the blackberry canes so the path is clear.
Planted six of the ferns I'd propagated, in the shady bed under the larch tree. Hope it's not too dry down there for them. Will have to post which ones they were at a later date, to make sure I don't forget - there's dryopteris, matteucia and a few other (but which species?)
Had a bit of a sort out of the cold frame. Some things growing well, others infested by weed. Found some snowdrops in pots, so put them into nicer pots and brought them inside - nice flowers for the table. Once again, we had sprouts, parsnips and leeks from the garden. Not many sprouts left, only two more leeks, but still a few parsnips. All have done very well this year.
Finally, took some cuttings from the rooted viburnum tinus prunings - should grow on quite easily as they already have leaves and roots.
11:10 Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: allotments4all, a4a, ceratonia, blog, apricot, coronilla