8th March
In November last year, I had bought 12 apple trees, three hundred raspberry canes a one hundred and fifty rhubarb crowns, these were all supposed to get planted before the end of last year, but the weather decided that wasn’t going to happen.
We have about one acre of ground below our 90-meter cosy tunnels that we didn’t really use, in here I was planning an orchard/fruit area. I had planted twelve apple trees In there about two years ago, with great idea of turning it into an orchard/fruit area, but it never happened.
Around the outside of this area there are willow trees that act as a windbreak, but we also had willow trees planted closer to the tunnels which have been there for years, this created a square area around an acre in size.
So I decided that all the willow trees nearer the tunnels would be better out, this would then open up the area for easier access, but we would still have the willow trees around the outside for protection.
When all the trees, raspberry, and rhubarb plants arrived, we had no where to plant them, I hadn’t got the area ready, so we had to we planted them in a tunnel to keep them in good condition.
Then we had to pull out around 100 willow trees and start preparing the ground.
We managed to get the willow trees out before December, then the winter came, and the ground was really wet, until till last week, it finally dried up, just enough so we could work the ground.
First job was to grub the ground, then we managed to plough it and finally we went over with the disc harrows, leaving it looking ready for planting.
We then got the apple trees planted and the three hundred raspberries planted, with just the rhubarb to go in, which we will do this week.
After we plant the rhubarb, I think we will still have a small area free. So I’m thinking about a dozen soft fruit bushes gooseberries, blackberries, redcurrants ????? but that’s just a thought I haven’t bought any yet.
