Orchard Enlargement

We've already spent two days hard at work, clearing blackthorn from the back of the orchard and burning it, but the progress we made was largely invisible from the house, as we were working from the back (top) of the bank of blackthorn, effectively hollowing it out. Yesterday, though, we finished the job, and the whole cleared area became visible in one day. It's a space probably ten metres deep, and fifteen wide, and means that the established apple tree in the back left, and the chestnut we planted on that side in February, are both now 'in' the orchard, rather than feeling separate. The James Grieve apple, and the other established apple that were on the back edge of the orchard now have space behind them or the left of them (respectively). We haven't yet gone as far right as the other chestnut: this will create less additional space, but we'll try to do so in the autumn.

The big advantage is that this has cleared the space that one day will hold the plum arch, which will be the feature exit from the back of the orchard into the clearings and woodland above. We've marked our intended position for it with a pair of fence posts, which—now they're visible—will let us assess whether it's in the right place. Pleasingly, it's directly above the hole in the dry stone wall that I'm rebuilding (slowly), which in turn is directly opposite the old door in the dining room (long (decades) since replaced with a window).

We were also able to pop out this morning to plant the second mulberry, King James/Chelsea, which has been in a pot since autumn, waiting to go in the ground. The weather also held just long enough to plant three more hellebores in the copse bed, three primulas in the games lawn's septic tank bed, a sedum 'Thundercloud' in the long border, and a handful of thymes and sedums in the wall in the front garden.

Oh; a note to myself: we saw a rather attractive hydrangea, 'Zorro', which might one day have a place.