Monday 12 January 2009

Fruitcages and Roast Dinners

Yesterday was the first day in about 3 weeks where the temperature hasn't been hovering just above freezing, I've been wanting to get outside and dig a bit of the compost into the beds but the ground has been so frozen it was impossible to get the spade in.

So I took the opportunity yesterday to get out in the garden and do a job I've been wanting to tackle since before Christmas. At the bottom of our very long garden is what we laughingly refer to as the mini orchard (4 trees and several fruit bushes) 2 of these bushes are the Blueberries I planted last year, they have done very well in their new home and managed to produce a very healthy crop of lovely fruit end of last summer, however they did get slightly swamped by the long grass and invasive clover we have down there. Another problem was the persistence of the local bird population, with one of our neighbors having to rescue several birds who had got stuck under the netting we used and which where being eyed up by the equally persistent local cats.

This year I have resolved to make a better more substantial fruit cage. The idea was sink 4 posts in a rectangle, they nail side panels of wood basically creating a small raised bed area for the Blueberries that could be easily netted and weeded. Sounds great right! I really wanted to get this under way while the bushes are still dormant and don't mind Rich and I brushing against them, that is until the subzero arctic weather parked its self on the UK and the ground has become as hard as iron meaning no knocking in posts.

Until yesterday! It took me nearly a hour to knock in 2 posts on my own ( and they are slightly wonky) Rich came out to see how I was doing and proceeded to knock in the last 2 in 5 minuets flat. Damn my weak girly wrists!



I just need to cut down the side panels of wood and nail them in place then its done!

I also set my first early potatoes to chitting this weekend, their Home Guards, I have grown them before and they make nice new potatoes if lifted early, I'll probably use Desiree's as my main crop same as last year as their a good all-rounder.



I cant wait for the warmer weather and to get planting!

While I was busy doing all this planning and straining my wrists, Rich was being a sweet heart as usual and cooking us a beautiful Sunday Roast, a pretty perfect Sunday really!

1 comment:

A Green and Rosie Life said...

Hi - found my way to you via My Tiny Plot (I think) - I always grow Desiree - good cropper and store well. Living in France though, most spud varieties are different and it's hard to work out which are earlies etc so other than Desiree it's a bit hit and miss as to what I'll grow. I hope to make it to the garden centre in the next couple of days especially as I want to get some earlies in the polytunnel. Happy gardening.

Rosie x