Tuesday 12 December 2017

December 2017 *back dated, sorry!*

A few days ago, I recieved the most exciting delevery of December...........two fruit trees from Orange Pippin fruit tress. They were a delightful company to purchase from so I am hopeful that means we have some great quality trees.
I went for a 'Scrumptious' apple on an mm106 rootstock  and a 'confrence' pear on a quince A rootstock. They are both maiden whips because both will be espalier trained. I spent weeks researching before ordering so I am hoping I have chosen the correct root stocks after feeling so confused with the conflicting advice online! 
I took the trees to the plot today and planted then both, and did the first cuts, hopefully I did it all correctly, it is terrifying taking secateurs to a nearly purchased tree! We still haven't purchased the post and wires (grrrrrr) but we are hoping to buy reclaimed wooden posts from a nearby city, lets hope we manage to get the job ticked off by the end of January, so for now they are just staked.
I also had the delightful job of retrieving thewaspnest from the compost bin. Which meant lifting and relocating the darlic, refilling with the uncomposted material, collecting and spreading the useable stuff, and excavating the rather delicate structure! It took hours of work, it was worth it though for a look at the amazing thing, I have a new found respect for the insects.

The bin has left a handy gap to build the first on a row of home made pallet compost bins. We will slowly replace each compost bin as they empty. It should make it much easier to turn the heaps and mean we can compost much more material too. I am hoping to grab some pallets from the reclaimed wood yard when we get the posts.
After a hard days work I headed home for a cuppa, with a fantastic harvest of parsnips. Perfect.