Autumn Cut

After cutting the paths in the orchard, the verges, and the copse ten days ago, we spent a few hours this morning starting to tackle the longer grass of the orchard. This needs the solid blade on Sigrid, rather than the strimmer head, because the grass, thistles, brambles, ragwort and blackthorn is rather too tough for a nylon string. We managed to do just less than a third of the job (equating to most of the left-hand area delineated by hedge and path), and get the cut material raked up and heaped at the compost bins. That was limited by my only having half a day at home (I'm effectively working a late shift), and also by our stamina: Sigrid isn't light, or quiet, or sweet-smelling!

However, even though it's going to take another couple of stints of work, hopefully over the coming weekend, the bit that we've done does look a lot better. It's nice to have it neat going into the winter, and cutting the grass back regularly does reduce the formation of tussocks, which makes it very much less even underfoot.

Rootstocks

The MM106 apple and Quince A rootstocks arrived during the week, and have been heeled into a bucket of compost, waiting to be planted out. That was the first order of the day, so all but two apples are now safely planted in the nursery beds we dug on the hillside. We've put up the chickenwire cage that will protect all three beds from deer, and the rootstocks should now have a couple of weeks to settle in before we graft onto them.

Yesterday afternoon, we then drove the 22 tubes that will support the apple walk arches into the ground. These are 5/8" steel tubes, with the underground section cold-galvanized, and bitumen painted, for corrosion protection. They extend about 90cm above ground, and the rebar arches will slot into them in a few weeks. Alongside are the support stakes, that will ensure that the rootstocks don't suffer windrock while they establish.

Steel tubes, zinc-painted and ready for bituminous paint over-coat ( Ian 2014)

Having got these carefully positioned, we then dug the two planting holes for our sweet chestnuts, which are on the same order as the twenty apples and one pear (the last two apples for the walk are amongst the grafting set). This was astonishingly easy: we each went to one hole, planning to get started then reconvene once we knew how difficult they were going to be—and had the holes dug in a few minutes. Working in the very stony (historically terraced) corner with the apple walk has clearly given us a different perspective. The holes dug, I drove an 8' stake for each; this has the advantage of being able to see the position from the house, to check that they seem right.

The two trenches of the apple walk then needed refilling, so we poured in seven bags of sand, to help drainage, and eight trugs of compost, before scraping the spoil heaps back into the trenches. Even with the additions, the loss of all that stone from the trenches means that they were still underfilled.

To make up the shortfall, we've used loam from the stacks of turf we've been building in the copse while lifting turves from the quince, sweet-pea, and copse beds. Trenches topped up, we then decided to put up the chicken-wire cage for the applewalk, having previously thought of leaving it until after planting. However, with the centre of the walk now clear of soil (but still muddy and slippery), we decided there was good enough access, and the greater risk was of kicking a tree over while manoeuvring the heavy roll of wire net. The corner stakes aren't really secure enough to tension a fence (I couldn't drive them deeply enough into the stony soil), but they've sufficed for getting the protective cage round the apple beds. We also had to dig one or two more short drains, to ensure that the ground isn't too wet—the very wet weather of the last month means there are several stream flowing down the hillside, in the main gullies and land-drain, and the ground just inside the gap in the wall is a pond. Fortunately, all our drainage work last year seems to have done the job well, and the existing trees seem protected from the worst of it.

The fruit trees are scheduled to arrive this coming week, and so we should be able to plant up the apple walk next weekend, at long last.

Bonfire

Earlier this year, we cleared a lot of gorse from the hillside, and have added—during our subsequent clearing and trench digging efforts—brambles, hawthorn and gorse to the heaps. We decided it'd had long enough drying, and the conditions were about right, to burn. It turned into an all-day job, as it burnt better than expected, meaning that we spent the day feeding the bonfire, but it means that it's all done, rather than taking several efforts.

In the nettle-y corner up from the house, I set a small fire (few sheets of newspaper, four bits of kindling and, pleasingly, a single match & firelighter!), and started feeding dry gorse into it. That burnt well, and so as Liz brought over dry material from the various heaps we'd accumulated, I cut the branches from the other hawthorns we wanted to remove, and we burnt them, too. Even though it was wet, it burnt well once there was a good, hot bed of charcoal.

As I say, that took all day, in the end, and we've spent today mostly on the hillside, too. Breaking it into several sections, I've used Sigrid to brushcut almost the entire orchard, clearing grass, gorse, brambles, thistles and ragwort. Liz cleared up behind me, thus replacing a lot of the heaps we burnt only yesterday. So it goes.

Fortunately, the hillside now looks immeasurably better.

In between brushcutting, we got a few jobs done in the garden-proper. All the brassicas have been moved up a pot size (purple sprouting, romanesco cauliflowers, January King cabbages, kale, sprouts), to grow on before being planted out after alliums or potatoes come out. We sorted out the irrigation system in the fruit beds, which had been disturbed when we mulched them in the spring. Lastly, we've sown some more lettuce/salad leaves, and resown Swiss Chard in the barrel (previous sowing was a no-show).

Kitchen Garden Paths

Long planned, but never accomplished: since building the vegetable and fruit beds (during 2010, with the last vegetable bed completed March 2011), the paths have been left as grass. The buttercups, dandelions, and grass growing along them have made the paths difficult during the late summer, and the mud has been awful when it's wet (which is, frankly, often).

We quite quickly established that we needed to put down weed-suppressant membrane and chippings, in order to help with both of these problems—and then promptly spent two years bemoaning not getting round to it.

I said, last August, that we hoped to get round to the paths, intending at the time to get it done during our usually productive autumn phase of work, which didn't happen (I think the wood shelter and hillside intervened, probably reasonably).

But lo! We've got it done. Taking advantage of the warm and dry weather, we decided we had to get it done before it got wet (it'd be a horribly muddy job, if the ground's sodden, à la the hillside trenches). I bought a mattock head for the pick-axe a couple of weeks ago, hoping that it would make this sort of work easier, and it's worked really well for cutting the banked sides of the paths off, so that the ground's more level. It's incredible how much soil has built up against the raised beds, which must have furrowed out from the path centre (where the wheelbarrow tracks, I suppose).

The paths cleared, we then worked along wedging woven weed suppressing fabric along all the paths (we ran out of woven stuff with the two shortest paths left (between the bottom raspberry bed and the two beds to either side), but they're the lowest-traffic paths (hence leaving them 'til last, as I knew we weren't flush with membrane!). They've been done with the slightly less tough non-woven fabric (which I used under the woodshelter), which I think will cope with the low wear, though I wanted the polypropylene woven material for the main tracks.

We probably don't have enough chippings to cover the paths, but that's 'easily' sorted, as we can order a truckload as soon as the drive's clear.

That was the other part of the weekend's work, splitting a couple of tons of wood. The driveway is, therefore, rather more clear.

Lastly, we planted a delphinium (picked up cheap last week while buying the border tools), astrantia, aquilegia, and three schizostylis that we bought earlier in the year. They've all been in pots, but there were clear spaces in the long border, so in they went. The border tools have proved useful!

In other news: on Friday I started a batch of 'Harvest Mild' beer and chardonnay, both from kits. They both claim to only take a few weeks, which is, I suppose, plausible if it stays warm.

Path Clearing

Yesterday evening, I managed to spend three quarters of an hour on the hillside, clearing some of the grass, brambles, thistles, and other weeds with Sigrid the brushcutter. I managed to cut a path roughly from opposite the garage, along the bottom boundary, and then up the natural path all the way to the entrance to the first, main clearing behind the treeline (which wasn't so grassy, but had bracken ready to cut). I cleared quite a large area around the plums and pears, in doing so, as well as a big stretch of brambles up in the corner.

The square in the bottom right corner (opposite the colour-wheel garden) is full of cow parsley, so I'm planning to leave that alone for now, as it's pretty; but I'll cut it down once that's over, as it's also full of nettles. I'd like to provoke them into new growth, as they're starting to flower, which means they're no longer much good for cooking, or making into cordial or beer/wine.

This evening, we took advantage of an offer at the garden centre, and bought a border-size spade and fork from the Joseph Bentley range. 'My' spade (the one that's the right size for me) that we bought a few years ago is lovely to use, and we added a fork last autumn. The border tools are a bit narrower, which will come in handy when working in and amongst plants, as the digging-sized tools can be a bit cumbersome then. They're all really nice to work with: strong heads, and wooden handles are a pleasure to handle (and they're never cold, in the winter, to the touch). 

Orchard Plan

It's been a long and tiring weekend, really, but we've cleared about 50m² of gorse from the hillside, marked out where the 47 trees will go, and cleared and put down squares of weed-suppression on the spaces for about 17 of them.

The gorse patch from the kitchen gate (© Ian 2013)

The gorse patch from the drive (© Ian 2013)

Clearing the gorse was a matter of loppers (and secuteurs) and good gloves. Liz cleared a lot of brambles (horribly twisted and knotted in the gorse), while I concentrated on gorse. The gorse (unhindered by bramble) was rather quicker, and our respective speed showed. The gorse hid an enormous rabbit warren city, which they will now, no doubt, extend up the hill to better cover.

This, no doubt, explained the cats' interest in what we were doing: they spent most of Saturday supervising us.

Eventually, the gorse and brambles were cut, and today we turned to putting out bamboo canes to represent the trees we have planned.

 After clearing the gorse patch, and putting out the bamboos (© Ian 2013)

Roughly half (25) are for Scot's pines; the other 22 are ornamental or fruit trees. We had a bit of time left, so I got Sigrid out, and cleared patches around the first couple of dozen. Once we'd picked up the debris, we had time before the light failed to place 1m squares of weed suppressant membrane around the canes, and weight them down.

Sigrid worked really well, with the tri-blade attached, mowing through the undergrowth. There's a trick to keeping her clear of the long bramble lengths, and obviously the detritus needs clearing afterwards, but that's fine.

Canes marking future sites for the trees (© Ian 2013)

We finished the weekend by sowing sweet pea seeds: we're trying out a lot of varieties this year (14) in different colours, to work out which ones we think will work well in the corner's colour-wheel beds.

Brushcutting with Sigrid

We had a day out yesterday, visiting the media museum in Bradford, in celebration of a fosterling's birthday. Good fun; the exhibits are interesting, and we saw a polar documentary at the Imax.

Today's been a getting-things-done kind of day: some wood stacking, for one thing. We also dug up the older of the two strawberry beds, taking out all of the Honeoye, Cambridge Favourite, and Florence that we put in three years ago (and then lifted into raised beds). They've not fruited brilliantly this year, as you might expect, but the Cambridge and Florence have always disappointed. So, we've replaced them with 25 new ('fresh') Honeoyes, and we've taken the extra step of planting them through weed-suppressant membrane. That should help reduce weeds, but also prevent runners, which lead to a congested and confused bed. Combined with a bit more management of runners (ie, removing most, and deliberately potting the ones we want), this should see better yields.

As we're reusing the same bed, we dug out a good amount of soil, and replaced it from soil that's been in the vegetable garden (that is, un-strawberried), and mixed in plenty of compost. At the same time, I spread compost around the rhubarb: I'll probably add some more later in the winter.

Lastly: my new brushcutter (a Husqvarna 135R, which I have christened Sigrid (shorter than 'the brushcutter', and she's Swedish)) arrived this week, so I gave her a try out. I've trimmed the verge outside the house (with strimmer attachment), and tried out the blade for clearing the hillside. Barely made an impression, in some senses, as there's half an acre to get through and I only did ten minutes' work, but I'm confident it'll do the job well. Strimming the verge was considerably easier than the last time I did so, with an electric strimmer. But that's the advantage of a 1.4kW petrol brushcutter, compared to a 350W electric model, I suppose! The right tool for the job makes such a difference...

Shredding

We've been clearing the bank of cotoneaster for two years, on and off, culminating in the wonderful day at the end of May when the last (of the top-growth) came down.

In our defence, it was a lot of cotoneaster: a bank 18m long, and up to 4m wide. We put some through the chipper in March 2011, and what we've cut down since marking out the future pond has been piled on the pond - convenient as it's close to the original planting, and killing the grass there will make it easier to lift the turves later on. When we added the poplar branches, and then the cotoneaster from the last few weeks, it got rather large. As in, filling the pond (about 6 by 3m) and taller than me.

The piles of brushwood and branches (© Ian 2012)

Needless to say, we weren't sure our electric chipper would manage this, so we've hired a petrol machine to pitch in. We've spent since Saturday going at the heap (in all weather), and hope to be finished tomorrow, when the shredder goes back.

Winged Weekend

Another busy weekend, for us, and for barn swallows who have been building a nest in our porch.

They're building their nest (out of mud pellets) on top of the keystone in the arch, on the 'in' side; it's nicely sheltered, but it does mean they get disturbed whenever we come or go. If we're doing anything for any length of time on the driveway, they perch on the telegraph wire opposite, and noisily complain.

Aside from the antics of these new tenants; we got an early start to the weekend, as we were telecommuting on Friday, so I got out to mow the lawn after work. First, admittedly, I had to mend the mower: the bolt that holds the blade was jammed stuck, and it took some work to get it to shift. By 'work', I mean destructive dismantling. New bolt installed, and mowing completed. It was swelteringly hot, though, so I was glad to finish. Liz started to clear weeds growing around the puschkinia and bluebells, which is another good thing to have done.

On Saturday, we had a busy day in the garden. The butterfly net (8mm square mesh) for the brassicas arrived a while ago, and so we put that over the rectangular vegetable bed. It went on really easily, after the shenanigans with the fleece covers, and it has reinforced edges which hooked over the existing nails neatly. We've stiched the ends together (non-permanently, so the same mesh can be reconfigured, wherever the brassicas are next year) with polypropylene cord. Earlier this week, we mended one of the split fruit cages with the same cord, with some success—they had been stiched with hemp twine, but that's rotting.

We also put some bird netting (inch mesh) over the peas, beans, and carrots. It's actually cat netting, rather than bird netting, for the carrots: the boys appear to have taken to sitting on the carrots. I wouldn't otherwise object (too much), but I don't want them bruising the foliage and attracting carrot root fly.

Belatedly, we realised we hadn't sown any butternut squash, so we planted a pair of seeds where we had put gourds, and covered them with bottle-cloches. The gourds joined another half-dozen from a windowsill in a large half-barrel, filled with compost and topsoil. They're a little crowded, I expect, but I only want a few fruits.

Sunday came, and we nipped out to the garden centre. The bitter winter saw off the clematis 'Pink Champagne' growing near the front door, and we also wanted a climber to go up trellis near the kitchen (disguising the old door). We found two new clematis to do this; an 'Angelique', and 'Marie Boisselot'. We also picked up a dozen petunias (pale yellow/cream), and planted these into two of the new hanging baskets. The other two hanging baskets received three verbena, three pelargoniums, and a small fuchsia or two; these are now near the door, and the petunia baskets are on the front of the house. The dahlias we got at the same time have graduated into bigger pots, too, to grow on until they're needed once pansies in the troughs have gone over.

We also re-planted the Christmas tree, into a larger bucket-pot, and sowed some more salad leaves. We've been eating salads with lunch for the last three days, as they're leafing nicely. The spinach is especially good.

Lastly, and least glamorously, I trimmed back the ivy where it was threatening to block the study window. Needs to be done a few times each year: I try to prevent it from adhering to the wooden window-frame. We also weeded the front garden, and reshuffled a couple of the hellebores under the acer, as there were a couple of gaps, and a bit of congestion. The front garden, with its two new clematis, four new hanging baskets, and weeded beds, is looking much better!

Chipped

I was out on Saturday until late afternoon (a work 'away day'), leaving Liz to crack on with the huge pile of branches that needed chipping. I got home at about half-four to discover that she had put almost the entire, multi-cubic metre stack through the shredder, leaving us with a wire cage of mulch.

Impressed? I was.

While she finished off, I humbly assisted by bringing over the last branches, and cut the too-thick branches into logs or kindling ready to stack and dry. In finishing the chipping, she also uncovered three old pallets that I'd put down first, which is a bonus: building the compost bins last weekend nearly used up all my pallets in reclamation.

Today, I've started to mow the lawn for the first time this year. Not all of it; I got bored, frankly, and there were other things to do. I've done the entire middle lawn, though, which is important. The last mow of 2010 was only a half-done job, and then the weather turned and I never finished: I have a feeling it was 1st September. Anyway: the middle lawn thus hasn't been cut since August last year, and was badly in need. It's now been shorn, and looks better—though it may suffer a little in the short-term. The rest of the lawn is easier to do, and isn't as thick, so I hope to knock that off one evening this coming week.

So; these 'other things'. We've tidied the shed! By which I mean, emptied it, removed several bin-bags of rubbish, removed the things that belonged elsewhere (primarily the workshop and the garage), size-sorted the pots (more of those than I thought, and certainly not short of them), and 're-packed' the contents. With sufficient efficiency, I should say, to enable me to put the chipper, lawnmower, and garden vacuum in there—all of which were previously cluttering the workshop. This is much better, and everything's considerably better arranged.

We then pottered in the space assigned to the future greenhouse and shed. Measuring up, I think we have space for a 6' x 18' greenhouse (not a standard size, but common enough), and either a 6' x 15' shed, or an 8' x 10'. The current (rotting) shed is the latter size, but the site is a trapezium, so there are two options for filling it. I have an eye on possible sources for both, but we need to figure out the cost (especially of the foundation!), and make a plan. It may be that we get the shed this year (to remove the rotting eye-sore, which is impeding my view of the daffodils, which are starting to bloom (a few dozen are out), and preventing easy planning of the herb garden that will probably replace it), but leave the greenhouse 'til the spring sales of 2012.

Speaking of daffodils: enough are now out that Liz has been able to pick a few vases' worth. It looks as though this is a couple of weeks earlier than last year. It's also almost exactly a year since we ordered the wood for the raised beds, and I'm planning to order some more this week, to construct the fleece/netting cages for the vegetable beds and a second strawberry bed (an extended version of the rhubarb bed we planned but didn't build). Also this week, we'll receive another 6m³ of topsoil, to finish filling the vegetable beds, and hold in reserve for later things. The potatoes are chitting nicely, so things are coming together well.

Potting On

It was a bit wet yesterday, and I've got no further with the window painting, which will have to pause. However, work in the kitchen moved on yesterday. The two joists are now supporting the wall, which has gone down further, although there are still eight or so acros in evidence.

The kitchen units and worktop have moved into the workshop, where they fit beautifully along the walls—somehow, they're the perfect sizes. I've put melamine sheets (perfect examples of 'it'll come in useful someday') over the worktop cut-outs for sink and hobs, and I now have eight cupboards with shelves, and a lot of bench space.

I should say: I did have a lot of bench space. We then immediately started potting up the pansies (132 Cat's Whiskers, 168 Amber Kiss) and primulas (132 Candelabra), which arrived in 2–3 ml modules, and are now in a variety of small pots.

Also recently arrived were six honeyberries (edible honeysuckles, Lonicera kamschatika), and a collection of cottage perennials (four of each):

• Scabiosa 'Perfecta White'
• Hollyhock 'Chaters Mix'
• Kniphofia 'Flamenco'
• Lupin 'Dwarf Mix'
• Achillea 'Summer Pastel'
• Geum 'Lady Strathden'
• Delphinium 'Black Night'
• Lobelia 'Queen Victoria'
• Galliardia 'Arizona Sun'
• Papaver 'Garden Gnome'
• Aquilegia 'Winky'
• Aubretia 'Royal Blue'

These all, also, needed potting up, as did sixteen mixed cyclamen we picked up. On the same trip, we also bought our own pair of loppers, to help with the cotoneaster

Between this lot, I have no bench space left! I'm going to try to rig up a temporary coldframe on the back patio, with some bricks and old secondary glazing. That would give me some space for—for example—the pulsatilla seedlings that are coming on.

Oh: the 50kg of daffodils I ordered from Fentongollen arrived, as did the Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica. The former, I realise, is more like 1100 bulbs, which means for a long session of planting...

Lastly, we popped out between showers yesterday, and collected the apples from the hillside, along with as many sloes as we could find, and the ripe blackberries. The weather hasn't been good for blackberries, and there aren't as many as I'd like—but hopefully enough for some wine! The sloes were better than last year, and I'll start some sloe gin when I have time. The apples are also more plentiful than last autumn, and we'll put them onto racks tomorrow evening. The chutney-making will, of course, need to wait until the kitchen is once more useable!

Raising the Veg Beds

After yesterday's rapid progress, I started building the raised beds this morning. This was the same sort of construction as for the fruit beds, but modified, as they're not designed with tall posts for netting. Instead, the posts are only as tall as the boards, and crops that need netting will have these supported on canes. We decided to do it this way, as the netting requirements will vary with the crop, which will themselves move, and to have each bed able to cope, integrally, with any crop would mean having tall posts throughout.

The vegetable beds, then, have 5cm square posts, 60cm long, at each corner, and breaking up the long runs. These are short enough to hammer into the ground (impossible for the 8-foot posts making the raspberry beds!), which considerably speeds up emplacing them. Once they're in, the 15x2cm board can be cut and screwed on (I prefer screwing them into place, rather than nailing: more secure, and easier to remove and re-jig). As before, I've gone two boards high. This makes quite a nice height for kneeling next to, and, when filled to about 60% of their depth, gives a good root run in 'improved' soil, while allowing space for mulching. The wood's all pressure-treated pine, so it should last well.

I've got about a third of the C-shaped bed done, and about half of the Q-shaped bed. That's allowed almost all of the remaining heap of top-soil to be brought down, and means I've probably got another weekend of construction to go. In all, the progress has been enormous: all of the ground cut, about a third of the beds raised, and a quarter of them filled—much more than we expected to get done!

I also broke in my new spade, a lovely ash-handled stainless steel affair. It's got a longer shaft than our other spade, which makes it better for me, and a tread edge. I have hopes of more tools from the same supplier, as the spade was excellent (and has a lifetime guarantee).

Easter Weekend

We spent the weekend getting on with the raised beds...it now appears that we're growing posts, admittedly, but it is coming along well. Most of the posts for the berry beds are now in: they're 3x3" posts for the corners, and we're putting in some 2x2" posts along the edges, as they're curved: the posts will hopefully help form the curves. They're all rather tall (the raspberries' posts are about 7', and the berry posts 6', to allow for a foot of raised bed, and then enough space for the bushes to grow.

There's still a long way to go, admittedly, and we'll then need about 20 cubic metres of topsoil to fill them all! I'm having to dig spade-width holes for the posts: they're too tall to hammer in, and--additionally--there are so many stones that it would never work.

The daffodils are coming up, but there are only a few that are imminently going to be out properly. The puschkinia are coming up, but looking a little small as yet. The siberian squills are there, but similarly small; but there's no sign of the anemones yet.

We also had a shopping trip, which led to a car-full of stuff...never mind. In addition to a couple of rolls of loft insulation (we can only fit a couple in at a time, so we get some whenever we visit: we need another 8 or so to finish the lofts), we also bought a lawn mower, a garden vacuum/blower, a new blender, and some odds-and-ends.

Although we currently have quite a lot of grass/lawn, neither of us is a big fan of lawn, so we'll be reducing it as the beds are created. Thus, there's unlikely to be much of an expanse that needs proper tending (read, striped and short). Combining this with the gradient and softness of the soil, I wanted a hover-mower, as only a self-propelled petrol would be a sensible alternative, and I just think that would get literally bogged down.

The vacuum/blower I'm absurdly excited about. I'm hoping it'll make clearing the leaves and twigs in autumn much simpler, and I'll probably try it out soonish on the remnants of last year.

The blender was a coup: nominal price £125, reduced to £50, but we had a £20 voucher after the delivery disaster with the freezer/washing machine. £125 blender for £30? Yes, please.