January 2006

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Visit the Fruit & Flower Garden pages for more details related to the diary entries below.

1 Hand made New Year cardHappy New Year !!!

Late getting up after not getting to bed until after 2:00, our remaining new year's day daylight hours largely spent planting three more fruit trees, Jonagold apple, Elstar apple and Victoria Plum.  

Cherry Summer Sun planting has had to be deferred as its hole was severely waterlogged.  I tipped in one load of compost and shall observe conditions in the next couple of days.

Crow's worn out - don't think he liked all that digging and compost carrying - it's extremely hard work!!  I did three compost loads and ferried all the mulch around, but I didn't have enough strength to dig a hole, even after it was started for me.

Titfer gave us a New Year egg.  I quite amazed she's still producing.  Let's hope her new year's resolution is to carry on laying!  Having stopped laying at the end of November, Tat has been moulting and is looking a little tatty - how apt!
4 Tat laid an egg today!  She's still missing a few neck feathers, but obviously has had enough rest.
5 Another Tat egg - can't keep a good bird down.  Nothing from Titfer for two days - have they swapped?
Planted the final fruit tree today - bit worried about it though - see Fruit Garden for more info.
Something's been digging in the mulch around the new trees - pesky rabbits, I guess.
6 Went back to work for the morning to assist with an annual task - good to see old friends.
7 2 eggs today!  Both hens performing.
8 Friends round for Sunday lunch.  Menu: mushroom loaf topped with cream cheese whirl, cheese & bacon quiche with vegetable salad, roast potatoes with home made chutneys followed by iced figgy pudding and cheese board (camembert, danish blue, pepper & tomato cheddar, honey & herb cheddar). Yum yum!
9 Been reading up about fruit tree pruning today, as Winter is the right time to prune the existing pear and apple trees.  Not the cherry plum - that must wait until Spring.  Have also read that rabbits can kill new young trees by nibbling at their soft bark, so we've been out protecting two of the new trees with chicken wire (see Fruit Garden for photo).  Still clearing flower garden borders, so boring.
Sold Ginger teddy bear today - have you got your Chick Original yet?
10 More flower border clearing this morning plus general tidying of pots and lawn :-(
Trying to save my favourite lemon geranium plant (which I suspect is really a pelargonium as it doesn't die back and the frost got it).
2 eggs today and yesterday - looks like we're back to normal production.
11 Only a short time available today to continue clearing the third formal border, which I am aiming to transform into a dry garden or pot garden.
12 Mulched flower garden border 2, more clearing of border 3.  In the orchard, I cleared the ground around the base of the three existing fruit trees, ready for feeding and mulching.
Sadly, a rabbit has severely attacked one of the new fruit trees before we finished protecting them today.
A friend looked at our two outside taps which had stopped working.  The tap mechanisms were both new last year and were not seized up, but on turning them on, no water came out.  Despite extra protection with bubble wrap, it seems they had both frozen in the cold spells and, despite some quite mild weather recently, had not unfrozen.  Some WD40, warm water and a bit of fiddling and he saved us a £50 plumber call out charge!
13 Chicks on the moveAnother mistake to correct!  I didn't study up properly about my new fruit tree planting!  Now realise that the mulch should not be touching the young tree bark, so have had to improvise some further protection.  Investigated feed, which resulted in the purchase of some Sulphate of Potash.  Also wrapped a piece of fleece around the rabbit bitten bark and bought some Prune & Seal to try to protect it further.Aggie 130106

 

Latest chicky pics just for fun!
14 Spending a lot of time doing a proper study of apple & pear tree pruning.  Can't afford to get this wrong.  I won't be able to put back what I chop off........
Planted up a new pot outside my front door and put three new plants in formal border 1, two in pots.  See Flower Garden for more info.  Hope they survive & thrive!
Found a stack of bulbs in the tack room which were dug up from border 3 during the clearing process.  I know it's a bit late, but I planted them in two pots & we'll see what happens.
I chopped back a bush next to the kennels as it was getting too big.  It revealed a massive Mahonia growing behind it.  Mahonia is one of my favourites, but this one is far too tall (about 8 feet) & leggy.  I guess it's been struggling for light.  Not sure whether to leave it or chop it.
Used Prune & Seal on Elstar apple to try to help protect the damaged bark.
15 Made a proper job of protecting the outside taps from further freezing temperatures.  New insulation for both down pipes and two insulated tap covers installed, topped with existing bubble wrap.  Guess that's what you call belt & braces.
17 Planted up a second big strawberry pot and completely cleared the greenhouse, ready for cleaning.
18 Cleaned the greenhouse today.  Yuk - outside housework!  Got enough of that indoors.
Having a treat tonight - a visit to Crispins restaurant with friends.  Mmmm... wonderful guinea fowl.....
19 All of my reading about fruit tree pruning tells me to prune my apple & pear trees in winter while they are dormant, but some say "late winter, to avoid cold damage".  So, I've decided to be a little more patient, despite the extremely mild weather this week (12.5C today!), because there is quite a bit of frost forecast for next week.
21 Friends round for lunch - my  cooking is improving with all this practice!.  Menu: hummus served with cherry tomatoes & bran bagels, followed by kedgeree, cheese & bacon quiche, roast potatoes, mixed veg casserole (leek, red/orange pepper, celery, cherry tomato, mushrooms, broccoli), followed by caramel fudge muffins with natural yoghurt and cheese board (cheddar, dolcelatte). Yum yum!
22 Latest Chick Originals..... 3 big & bold cards Fringed polo
23-26 A short break to visit friends in Portugal.  Time to relax and enjoy excellent food.  A typical 3 course meal with a bottle of wine, a litre of water and coffee afterwards costs between 12.5 and 17.5 euros per head - that's only £8.50 - £12 per head!  Needless to say we dined out every night.
27 Back to freezing cold England including a fluttering of snow - quite unnecessary!
28 My Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Tricolor', planted on 14th has disappeared!  Can't imagine what has happened to it, as it was surely too prickly to be a suitable snack for any wildlife..
30 First flowers in the garden - some snowdrops and a unknown yellow flower - photos in Flower Garden.
31 Jobbing in the garden today - dig over & improve greenhouse soil with well rotted manure compost, tidy up bamboo, tidy last year's growth from around barrel bird bath, improve some outer greenhouse soil especially around rhubarb which is starting to show signs of new life.
Also checked the rabbit bitten Elstar and I think (fingers crossed) I might have managed to save it with a combination of bark protection & fleece through the sub-zero night temperatures.
At last, my Breadmaker arrived today.  It's unboxed, washed & prepared for use and I've read the instruction & recipe books.  Fresh bread tomorrow.........