Fruit tree update

Baby plums and apples are now forming on the trees in the orchard. The older Victoriaplum in particular has quite a few;

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Victorias do tend to overbear, and if we left all these on they would press together and rot before they got ripe. In the extreme the weight of fruit can break branches off. So I’ve reduced this bunch to just one fruit.

On the Marjories Gage, nature is doing its own thining:

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The undeveloped plums will fall off in the ‘June drop’

Meanwhile, one of the apples has some unwelcome visitors:

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These curled up leaves are hiding aphids. They could be squashed or washed off with soapy water, but its probably best to leave them to encourage their natural preditors

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Big Dig 2015

On Saturday 21 March, we took part in Big Dig 2015. On a  cold grey day we had a steady stream of visitors and made a start on some key garden projects with their help.

putting well rotted horse manure round the gooseberries to feed them and suppress weeds
putting well rotted horse manure round the gooseberries to feed them and suppress weeds

Potato planting 2

and adding rotted horse manure as a mulch
and adding rotted horse manure as a mulch
Turing over an extra strip of turf to make room for growth
Turing over an extra strip of turf to make room for growth
Sue shows a girl how to plant seed potatoes
Sue shows a girl how to plant seed potatoes
Old and new gardeners gathering at the start of the Big Dig
Old and new gardeners gathering at the start of the Big Dig