Planting Four Young Fruit Trees

This morning Simon, Kieron and Ali spent a few hours planting four young, bare rooted, fruit trees in the orchard. The two year old trees are:

• Apple 'James Grieve'. Eater/cooker. Red flush stripes over pale green, crisp and juicy, excellent flavour and reliable cropper.
• Apple 'Egremont Russet'. Eater. Golden in colour with pale brown russet, nutty, sweet and aromatic.
• Plum 'Victoria'. Eater/cooker. Pale red fruit with golden yellow flesh.
• Pear 'Gieser Wildeman'. Cooker. Small russet brown fruits turning red when cooked.

For each tree a circle was marked out in the desired location and the turf removed. A hole was then dug out in the centre of the circle, the bottom broken up with a fork and a small amount of leaf mould added to the hole.

The tree was then placed into the hole, the soil back filled around it, heeled in and leaf mould added to the top of the soil as a weed suppressing mulch. A tree stake was then placed next to the tree, hammered into place and, using a plastic tree tie, fixed to the stake to prevent wind rock whilst its roots spread into the hole over the next few years. Lastly, the tree was given a good watering in.

Leaf Pit Improvements

The task of moving the leaf heap was started on Friday and completed this morning. After it was emptied the pit, and the area in front of it, were given some improvements. The ground in front of the pit had got very muddy during the recent wet winter and, to help prevent this happening in the future has been covered in wood chip. Further improvements were also made to prevent the contents of the pit from spilling out on to the wood chip. A slatted front was constructed out of decking boards supported by posts left over from the recently built Post And Rail Hedge Protection.

Moving The Leaf Heap

The grass is beginning to grow and soon the grass cutting season will be in full swing. Space is at a premium in the compost areas so it is time to clear one out to make room for the grass.

Ady, Joss and Callum spent the day clearing the heap at the bottom of the orchard, using the grab attachment on the New Holland tractor to move the heap a bit at a time, filling the trailer and transporting it to another compost area at the bottom of the sportsfield.

Post And Rail Hedge Protection

Two weeks ago the team planted a new yew hedge between the orchard and the car park, see blog entry 20th February 'Planting A New Yew Hedge'.

To protect the new hedge over the next few years, whilst it matures and the young trees anchor themselves into the soil, Keiron and Simon constructed a temporary, low level post and rail fence. Not the first time this type of fence has been used in the garden, see blog entry 9th January 2013 'Post And Rail Fence'.

Lifting, Splitting And Transplanting Winter Aconites

Having spent the morning mulching the ornamantal grass borders of the Canal Building, Ali and Graham moved back into the main garden to lift, split and transplant some Eranthis hyemalis (winter aconites).

The carpet of bright yellow, buttercup-like flowers have faded so now is the best time to move them, 'in the green'. Being careful not to trample on the crocus and daffodils that are flowering amongst the faded blooms, they carefully lift clumps of winter aconites using a fork. Each clump is then gently pried apart to form smaller clumps and then transplanted to extend the area, as there was no rain forecast they had to be watered in, something that would have seemed inconceivable a few days ago following the wettest winter on record!

Mulching With Wood Chip

The ornamental grasses in the borders of the Canal Building were cut down yesterday, so today the borders were ready to receive their annual dressing of wood chip mulch.

The huge pile of wood chippings was been added to yesterday when the fruit tree prunings were chipped, so Graham and Ali removed the greener, top layer to reach the darker, older chippings. The wood chip is used as a decorative mulch to cover the weed suppressing membrane that the grasses grow through, see blog entry 22nd March 2012 '113 Grasses & A New Stone Edge'.

Chipping The Fruit Tree Prunings

The pruning of the fruit trees in the orchard started six weeks ago, see blog entry 22nd January 'Apple And Pear Tree Pruning Begins' and today the prunings that have built up over that period need to be put through the chipper.

Joss and Simon spent the morning feeding the hungry chipper with the tangled prunings until the task was complete.