1st of March - Compost Leaf Mulch

Checked the trees, 3 had rabbit damage nothing serious. These three have now got additional protection. The extra protection does seem to be working.

I have also now taken most of the compost from my own garden to the orchard and the good compost has been spread around all the trees. I have rebuilt the compost holder that I had originally made with 6 wooden palettes with 4. I have uploaded a picture showing an empty compost heap and again later after we had dumped several bags of leaf mulch into it.

The large bird is back and with a friend or a mate. The two were soaring around the skies and they look neat. The birds are large, brown in colour with silver/white pattern underneath. They look great. I have uploaded a picture of the two flying around either playing or hunting perhaps even some mating ritual, as they seemed to be having fun, swooping and hovering. The picture is not great even with my full zoom on.

My daughter and brother have been helping me, and they spent some of the time feeding apples to the ponies and horses in the next field. My daughter is still afraid of the ponies and her excuse for not feeding them with her own hands was that she had hurt her finger in the last couple of days.

Lots of buds still no blossom, looking forward to it. I haven't water the trees yet, but the weather over the coming days is meant to be wet. Which should soak the ground for me.

Some of the compost that I had applied less that two weeks ago has be drawn into the soil, which is good news. The claying parts seems to get pretty dry when left on top.

Fiz was out and about and his usual barking loud self. Though I think he is getting more used to me being around.

Also I have intentional removed the rabbit guards on some of the trees that were ring barked, they have been annihilated by the rabbits. It shows the amount of damage that they can inflict on a young tree. Shocking.

Last tree guard in place

I have put the last rabbit guard in place. It was late in the day and I was unable check the trees.
I have also received good news, I am at the top of the list for a bee swarm.

If anyone in the Sutton Coldfield Bee Keepers Association no longer wants their bees or if any bees swarm I get to collect them and put them in a hive on the land. This is great news as I really need the bees to help with pollination.

I start the manual course in a couple of weeks so we shall see how I do.

21 February Apricots and Peaches

Its been a busy week I have planted 8 new trees, these include 4 Peach trees and 4 Apricot trees. I have also put compost on 63 trees. Each tree has received at least 1 bag of compost. I will get the remaining trees done within a couple of days. I have not seen any new damage to any of the trees. I still have to put 1 rabbit guard on the last of the new trees. I had to but the final tree guard on Sunday.

I have spent a number of days getting things done, with help from my brother and daughter. In fact as its been half term the whole family has been helping out.

The dogs have also been a little friendlier as they are seeing me more, I still don't trust them but they seem to not want to eat me. It may have something to do with me giving more dog biscuits in the last few days. Every one seems to like the pictures of the dogs that I have though. Are they cute ?

15th February 2009 Ah ha and compost

I took a friend down to the orchard Michael Wood along with my brother and daughter. Michael "Woody" used to be a Ranger in Scotland and is knowledgeable about land issues. He walked the land and looked for tell tale signs and has shown me some small holes in the land that are probably created by Field Mice. These are the likely cause of the new damage to the trees. It would also explain the birds of prey which have been seen on the land.

Michael has also shown me deer droppings and confirmed rabbit holes that I already knew about. He even found some fresh mice droppings in a small hole that was no bigger than the width of one of my fingers. The mice he claims will not be a major problem. I can do little about the mice at present without leaving out poison which may also kill birds and other small animals that may be around. They may even harm the birds of prey, so poison is out of the question.

I have added lots of compost from the house compost heap roughly 25 kg's for each tree, I have only managed to get 20 of the trees done, as transporting that much compost from the house to the orchard is difficult even with the help of my brother, woody and a small van.

My daughter has also been helping by putting out leaves as mulch around the trees. I have already prepared another 20 bags of compost which I need to get to the land asap then I need to spread it.

I have also purchased 8 new trees 4 of which are apricot and 4 peach. The plan is to plant them on Wednesday 18th February. These new trees are almost an experiment and we shall see how they do. As the climate changes they may do well in the UK, we shall see.

Friday 13th February More bad news

I decided to pop down to the orchard and check on the trees. Whist checking the trees I have discovered more damage. This new damage looks like it was caused by rabbits but higher up the tree, than I would have expected. The damage was also on the inside of the rabbit guards and not directly at the top of the rabbit guards.

It actually looks like the rabbit guards have been lowered slightly, then the bark has been nibbled. I can't be sure what animal could be doing it, perhaps it could be human damage ?

This was a disappointment I can't be sure what is causing this new damage and its frustrating.

7th February Snowy

Checked all the trees today. They seem fine. Lots if not all of the trees have buds ready to burst open in a couple months if not sooner.

It has snowed a great deal over the past few days and much of the snow is still on the ground. In fact I can see tracks laid by the Rabbits that have been hopping around. None of the paw prints actually get very close to any of the trees. It would have been easy to spot if any rabbit had even lingered around a tree trunk.

Some of the ground has ice and in some places its strong enough to hold my weight without breaking. In most however it breaks as soon as I step on it.

The cold should kill any germs or bacteria and insects that are around.

Grafting course at Stowe 1st February 2009

When to a grafting course at Stowe, organised by the orchard group. It was difficult but interesting. I have learnt two techniques to graft, they are both similar.

Both are based on the tongue and grove methodology.

I found it difficult and believe its a skill you can acquired with practise. Will I get a chance to practice it regularly, I'm not sure at the moment.

I may have to buy a special knife for it. The knife is a cross between a cheese knife and an Rose pruning knife.

Met some new people on the course, who all seem interested in orchards and some were even looking to acquire land for that purpose. Some were looking to improve gardening skills and some may have been looking for business opportunities.