I'm back!!

not too much been going on from the gardening front until this weekend ... we had major harvesting/planting to do!
Today, DH planted most of the stuff that was delivered on Friday (almost an entire month late!!): Tayberries (3); Goji Berries (3); strawberry plants (25); a damson tree; & then there was the gooseberry bush, 2 rasperry canes & the blackberry cane that have been waiting to be planted since late September. Bad us!! We did have some of those 'stick' apple trees a few years ago ... they got so choked by weeds that they never really established & we got rid when we dug the back garden up. Apparently, we missed a root & when DH was digging it over today, he found 2 new shoots ... healthy & about 4" tall growing on a huge root that he dug up. So we are going to try re-potting & see if we can grow them. Nothing to lose I guess!

We still have 9 rhubarb crowns, 2 apple trees, a pear tree & 3 hazelnut bushes to plant ... just as soon as I decide where they are to go! The plan is to put them in the back garden & then throw some grass seed down in the spring ... in the 'mini orchard' we are creating, we want to try keep a few chickens later next year - still just a thought right now ... need to take a proper look at it before we go ahead! But it is looking good for bumper fruit crops next year ... yummy! The hazelnut bushes won't fruit for 2 years but everything else should be OK for next year!!

In with the delivery were some freebies: 25 Spring Green Tulips, 6 Scabiosa Perfecta (have no idea what they are ... other than a flower, of course) & an extra surprise Christmas gift of 20 mixed daffodil & narcissi bulbs. The plan is to grow them in little pots, which will be prettied up as mother's day/easter gifts next spring ... might even sell a few at local craft fairs if I'm lucky.

Anyway, we harvested most of our remaining crops today too ... we have just started to get a few hard frosts: 3.75 lbs Turnips; 2lbs beetroot & 1.5lbs of mild radish roots. the radishes came from the mixed salad, which had gone to seed & been a li'l bit slug/frost damaged. When DH dug them up, he discovered these large radish-type roots, ate one & decided they are edible. LOL. So we also added a huge amount of green stuff to the compost today too!

Update on the allotment: DH spent a lot of time down there last month ... just rotavating the ground. It has been done 3-4 times now & is ready to plant out in spring! Woo-hoo!! No piccies today ... hope to have something for you soon!

Nothing To See Here!

Worked really hard at the weekend - after my trip out on Saturday (which exhausted me for the rest of the day) Sunday was really busy! We managed to get the Blueberry (2), Gooseberry (2 each red & green) & Currant (2 each black & red) bushes planted. Well, I say bushes but they are effectively sticks with maybe a couple shoots on them.
On Saturday night, I spent a good while on the Internet, finding out how far apart all our new goodies will need to be spaced (including the ones we don't have yet) & drew a bit of a plan. The bits of ground that haven't been in use had started to become overgrown with weeds again so there was a lot of prep work to do. I also read somewhere that a mulch of pine needles is good for blueberries, so as I don't have them I thought we'd try the fir-type tree that I killed when re-potting it in the back garden (it died). I'm aware that it isn't a pine tree but I guess it's the same kinda thing ... we'll see! Spent a good few hours collecting the dead leaves from it & have a good bag full ready to mulch with when I have a spare moment.
I have a couple bigger projects to get on to soon ... but they are for another day!
Today, I had to venture into town again - which predictably wore me out for the rest of the day. That did mean tho' that I spent rather more time than is healthy surfing the 'net this afternoon ... and the result is 2 or 3 rather good new links ... just watch them growing! LOL