The Orchard - Self Sufficient in ... Fruit and Nuts

This is to be part of a series of posts about what we are, or are on our way to being, Self Sufficient In  ...

Everywhere is greening up nicely now, so much so that I am going to start calling the spot where the chickens are currently living The Orchard.  After all according to Wikipedia -

 'An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production.'

 Which is exactly what this is, although with the trees appearing to be no more than spindly little sticks until this last few weeks, I was loathe to give it such a 'posh' title. 

So in The Orchard we have:

3 Damson trees - Merryweather 

3 Pear trees - Doyenne du Comice

3  Cherry trees - 2 Stella and 1 Morello 

3 Apple trees - 1 Bramley, 1 Braeburn and 1 Cox's Orange Pippin

3 Plum trees - Victoria

And at the top of the hill espaliered on the fence is another unknown variety of Pear.

All the trees used to have identifying labels on them ... but the chickens have very helpfully removed most of them, it's a good job I have a little notebook that reminds me of everything that we have planted!!

I have temporarily moved the Blueberries out of the Net Tunnel to stand by the back door of it.  The wind has been much calmer recently and as a reader commented recently (thanks for the reminder Kris) they do need to be pollinated by the bees.  It was okay while I was working in there with the door open each day but I have had no reason to be in there for the last week and I doubt many bees would be able to fit through the mesh of the tunnel so (to quote Nellie Pledge) they are stood standing  outside for now.

At the front door of the polytunnel, this week's sunshine and warmth has brought the transplanted strawberries on a treat and at last we have flowers.  The strawberries in the tall galvanised planter on the right of the tyres have now been joined by the start of the Jerusalem Artichokes that also live in this tub.  That's the first one coming through that you can see in the top righthand corner of the tub.

 As well as the fruit trees in the Orchard and the strawberries here in the old tyres and planter, we have the nut trees in Nut Wood, four Walnut, two Almond and two Sweet Chestnut.  This is our wildlife area and also has wild flowers and lots of Borage to encourage the bees.  In the Rhubarb patch there are now four rhubarb different kinds of rhubarb alongside some more strawberries that were hiding when I moved the others.  There is also a hanging basket of strawberry plants in the polytunnel and a tray of Cape Gooseberries that have over-wintered nicely.  

Dotted regularly down the fence of the hillside we have our red, black and white currant bushes and by the Rowens at the bottom of the hill are the four Gooseberries.  All of which were cuttings taken from our neighbour Mary's lovely bushes last year and they're doing really well.  And I mustn't forget the old Belfast sink near the back door that is absolutely full of lovely flowering strawberry plants.  

And of course over in the original Chicken World there are the Plum and Cherry trees and the huge old Bramley apple tree that absolutely dripped with huge apples last year, many of which are still residing in the freezer, sliced and in crumbles and pie bases.  Over by the man-shed there is another old eating apple tree of unknown type, all these were here when we moved in and although we do not know the type we do now know the flavour and that is very good.

So I have my fingers firmly crossed for another decent fruit yield this year, with the amount of blossom that is on all the trees it's looking hopeful.

So one day we will be Self Sufficient In ... Fruit and Nuts

Sue xx 

Almond Tree Blossom

The Almond trees are still in blossom, which bodes well for a slightly bigger  harvest than last years, which was the grand total of three almonds .... yes three.    We were forgiving they are baby trees and they had only just been planted months before we got nuts.  This year with little frost to speak of the blossom has all stayed on the trees and is looking beautiful.

Somebody asked me in a comment on a post when I published a photo of them a bit ago if they were ornamental or actual food trees.  Well I rarely 'do' ornamental, if I'm growing something it has to be edible or have a definite benefit ... although saying that something as beautiful as this blossom is a benefit to the eyes isn't it, so it's a double bonus with these trees.

It's turned really chilly here this afternoon, luckily I managed to get all my washing dry enough to finish off on the Aga before the rain came and now it's evening so time to feed the pooches and cosy on down for a relaxing evening with a good book.

Sue xx

Getting Your Head Bitten Off

The new Almond trees at the far end of the paddock are full of blossom, looking so pretty and miraculously all the blossom has survived through the gale force winds and frosty mornings of the past few days.

What has not survived and is looking horribly sad and stunted is this poor Tulip, and in this case it's not the wind or frost to blame.

Google Images picture.

It was one of these lovely Parrot Tulips  .....

... as were it's friends.

Luckily we got to see and very briefly enjoy the first one at it's best the day before the rabbits found them.  I went back to take a photo of it but the stunted little remains were all that was left by the next day.

Now that the bl**dy fluffy bunnies have eaten all the tulips that were in flower, the little sods are starting on the daffodils ... I hope they get tummyache.

Ravaged beyond help.

One left ... it'll be gone by tomorrow.

Did any of you spot the tail in the first picture, yes it was Ginger, joining us on the doggy walk last night after tea.  I always think lush green grass sets of his colouring wonderfully.  He's a handsome and wonderfully happy chappy at the moment.

Sue xx

Meet 'Ingrid' ... and her friends.

Meet Ingrid one of our new Almond trees.

We have two 'Ingrids' in total and joining them at the far corner of the paddock are two Sweet Chestnuts called 'Maron de Lyon' and four Walnut trees, two are 'Fernors' and two are 'Fernettes'.

So those of you who guess trees were in our strange looking parcels were correct.

The huge messy heap is all the nettle roots that we dug out of this area before the trees went in, I'm sure we missed lots of them but we got out as many as we could.

Hopefully in the next few years we will have a good selection of nuts to join the fruits and vegetables that we will be growing, and to compliment Cob nuts, which are a type of Hazelnut, that we already have growing in the hedgerows on our land.

One step closer to our little bit of self sufficiency :-)

Sue xx

Unusual Deliveries, Winds and IVF

I got home the other day to find some parcels waiting for me.  It took me a minute to realise what they were ..... can you guess?

The winds decided to make Lovely Hubby's sheets of wood attack my car the other night, luckily the bodywork on my little Fiat 500 is pretty pliable and it sprung back to shape after being attacked so mercilessly.  Phew ... imagine explaining that one to the insurance company!!

Oh ... and if you're having trouble conceiving nip down to Asda where they have IVF available to buy   ..... in the bedding department of course ;-)

I couldn't resist snapping these duvet covers while we were shopping last week, I wonder which bright spark decided to fold them this way.

Sue xx

Back to My Roots

 

I picked too much Rosemary last week when I nipped out in the rain to grab some herbs from the tin bath.  Rather than using it all and risk spoiling the dish I was making, I snipped off the amount I needed and stood the rest in a pot on the kitchen windowsill.

 

It got a water whenever I was watering the other herbs, but I didn't have a recipe that I needed it in until the other day when I was making some Mediterranean Veggies.  On pulling the sprig out of the pot this is what I was greeted with ...... lovely healthy roots.  So I popped it back into the water and went and cut another sprig from outside to use in my cooking.

 

A plant for free, maybe I'll do a few more and try and quell my urge to get seriously planting.

 

This was how it looked when I first sowed the seeds, now it is a mass of green.

 

I have cobbled together a makeshift 'greenhouse' to start some salad crops off in since the permission for the poly and net tunnels is taking so long.  Fingers crossed but we should hear next week and it's looking favourable :-)  The seedlings in my 'greenhouse' are doing surprisingly well, because I was using some of my oldest seeds I was very generous with the sprinkling of them and don't you know it virtually all of them came up, so at least there are some edible crops on the way soon.

 

 

Back to my roots ..... at last.

 

Sue xx

 

A Walk through the Paddock for Mum

 

My lovely Mum is poorly at the moment, stuck in the house nursing Shingles, not nice at all.  So I thought I would take her on a walk through our paddock.  Breathe in the fresh air Mum and walk through the lush green grass with me. 

 

No sheep can come to munch on our grass yet as we need to put up a couple of fences and some gates, so in the meantime it is growing long and luscious for them.  When they do come they will be well fed.

 

 

At the top of the hill the ferns are starting to unfurl their wonderful fronds.  Lovely Hubby is zapping them with the strimmer whenever he has it out, but I love ferns and in between his assaults on their tender stems I love to watch them, it's a shame these are choosing to grow in the wrong place but there are lots in the woods for me to lavish my ferny love on.

 

Buttercups peek out bravely from the grass, all around them are tiny blue flowers but when I took these photos early in the morning they were yet to show their delicate beauty to the world.

 

Bluebells, escapees from the woodland are dotted here and there amongst the grass.  Tiny blue beacons adding colour to the field with their daintiness.

 

And as we walk in a full circle, with the dogs dashing here and there to sniff at things I cannot see, we come back to the trees we recently planted, the top picture is one of the apple trees still in full blossom.  A sign of hope for a few fruits later this year.  This is one of the Cherry trees, it's blossoms have gone now ....

 

 

... replaced instead by the fruits, slowly developing in the rain and sunshine of the past week.

 

As Suky leads the way back to the house, carefully bypassing the bare earth of the proposed roadway she takes us past the Whitebeam and Rowan trees dotted in front of the Laurel hedging, everything has taken well and is growing strongly.

 We should pause a moment by the Magnolia, it too seems happy in it's position with the smaller plants, Daisies, Genista and Azalea all around it.  Maybe we'll get some flowers on it next year, our neighbour has a long row of them in her garden so they must like this part of the world.

 

 

Crossing the driveway we need to stop to admire the strong beauty of the Auricular, nestled in the pile of rocks that form the temporary wall to our entrance.  Given to me by Mum and Dad a few years ago and bravely flowering each and every year throughout our moves, no matter where I put them and how much I neglect them.  Simply gorgeous. 

 

And a lone fern peeking through the retaining wall, waves goodbye as I check round the back of the house before going in with the dogs.

 

I hope the stroll was good for you Mum, it was lovely to share the promise of Summer to come with you and to record what we have here at the moment. 

 

Little by little we are starting to make this slice of Welsh hillside our own and it's partly due to the things we have learnt from you and Dad, to nurture the earth, to take our time with choices, to move forward slowly and steadily, but to remember to stop every now and then and savour the moments and the achievements.

 

I hope you're soon feeling better, see you soon.

 

Sue xx



Weeds and Trees

 

We are gradually and steadily digging up the weeds in the front flower bed.  It didn't seem much of a job when we started but the weeds must have been plucked off at ground level for years and never fully uprooted and as we are trying to make a good job of it, we are trying hard to dig out all the well established roots.

 

Trying not to disturb the roots of the shrubs and plants around them slows the job down considerably but we are determined to do it properly.

 

 

It's worth it when we get to a stage where we can give the remaining plants a good water to apologise for disturbing them, and scatter on a layer of bark chippings as mulch  all around to keep the sun from burning their roots.

 

 

And talking of bark chippings ... we are amassing quite a lot of chippings and sawdust as the large old oak tree is finally being 'planked'.  After lying on the hillside in all weathers to let the rain wash the tannins etc out of the wood, it is finally ready to be made into something usable. 

 

Of course all the smaller logs are to be stored for firewood and in a couple of years they will be seasoned nicely and will be used to keep us all cosy in the house, but the main trunk of the tree once the slices have been thoroughly seasoned, which we have been told will take about three years,  one year for each inch of thickness of each slice, are to be turned into furniture, some for us and some of the pieces will be for sale.  It's all part of Lovely Hubby's long term retirement plan. 

 

I find it lovely that part of his retirement plan matches my paternal great grandfathers lifelong business which was making furniture out of oak.  He had a workshop directly above a garage in Hulme, Manchester above a couple of chaps starting their first car business, they were a certain Mr Rolls and Mr Royce.  When he had a large piece of furniture to get out of the workshop he used to lower it down a trapdoor in the floor into their garage and they would help him take it out to the front.

 

 Eventually the site of the old oak tree will be hidden by our garages with solar panels on the roof and LH's workshop at the end.  It was such a shame that we had to chop down this most magnificent of trees in the first place but knowing that every inch of it is being used makes it fit perfectly into our plans, both short and long term.

 

And I think that the number of trees we have planted over the last few weeks slightly makes up for our cutting this one down in what looked like it's finest hour.

 

Sue xx

 

 

What a Difference a Day Makes

 

One day of digging holes and planting trees will change the look of this hillside for ever.

 

On Saturday we started with the blank canvas that is this first picture, banged the stakes in where the fruit trees were going to be planted, checked our lines and then just went for it.

 

A few hours later and many buckets of water carried across from the house ...

Suky posing for posterity in front of all our hard work.

 

... and we had eleven trees planted, but there should have been twelve!!

 

We had been short changed on the delivery.  So we downed tools, scraped the mud off our wellies and jumped in the truck.  Luckily they are absolutely brilliant in our local nursery Tal Goed (see the link at the top of the sidebar for their Facebook page) and the owner just waved us in the direction of the Plum Trees and said "help yourself".

 

While we were there it seemed rude not to nip into the lovely 'Planters Café ' and partake of a shared sandwich along with a jam and cream scone accompanied by a cup of coffee for me and a long cold drink for LH ... well you have to don't you :-)

 

Wearily picking up his spade for the last time once we got back home the Plum tree was soon in  the already dug hole and joined it's friends in the field and the job was done.

 

 

The first page of my nice new Planting Book filled in.

 

At the top there will be three Damson trees, they are currently on order and should be delivered towards the end of this week ..... oh well, maybe he wasn't picking up his spade for the last time after all then  ;-)

 

 

A good days work.

 

Sue xx