A pleasant start to the new year

I checked on the trees today and all is well. I still need to put manure on a number of the trees, but its been a wet start to the new year and I didn't have the time or the courage to move the manure.

However I've noticed that the cherry trees have the largest buds followed by the apples then pears and finally the plums. It's also the order that the fruit ripens. The buds are growing and getting larger. Its pleasing to the eye and gives you something to monitor and watch as it grows and blossoms and then fruits. My patience and diligence should be rewarded with what I hope will be scrumptious fruit.

The picture is of a Cherry tree branch with lots of large buds.

I haven't been into any off the hives at the moment, the weather's been a little to cold. Though over the last couple of days and today I have noted bees coming out of the hives not in huge numbers but they are comming out. Even bees need the loo.

I have seen a number of ladybirds today on the trees which is also a nice sight, I want them to prosper so that can eat aphids early in the season.

The picture was of a ladybird on a tree but my phone camera didn't really do it justice.

Over the past month a number of branches on an old tree in the orchard have fallen. The tree itself must be over 100 years old and over the years many branches have fallen. I know that beatles and bugs will devoure the logs over time and part of me would like to see how it rots and then decomposes as it returns to the soil, whence it came.

More manure around the trees

I have added more manure to about 15 trees today that leaves only another 20 or so remaining. It was hard work. Today I started on the trees the furthest away from the manure and am now coming closer to the manure pile. I would estimate it can take up to 20 minutes to put the manure on 1 tree. The walk from one end of the orchard to the other is more than 250 meters. It was cold and as usual I was getting the work done on my own.

I started with wax jacket on and by the end of the day I was in a tee shirt piling manure into the wheelbarrow with a fork and then pushing the wheel barrow to the other end and then spreading it out around the tree. The manure still smells and its still steaming, much of the straw has detoriorated. 

 I must have reduced the pile by more than half and I have enough to complete the remain trees and will later this week try and complete the task, as I'll have  some volunteers, as long as the weather is permitting.

The original manure than I had put around the trees near the entrance is being drawn into the soil but it will probably take a couple more months, I hope. I have also added rabbit and chicken manure to the pile, with some extra straw and hay.

I haven't checked the bee's this week as it been a little too cold.

Trees are asleep and the buds are visible

When I walk around the orchard I can see that all the trees are dormant. Very few trees now have leaves and if they do they have very few. I can see some ladybirds around and the number of birds pottering around is also diminishing.

In truth I don't even see many rabbits at the moment, but the last couple of weeks have been cold and wet. I haven't managed the get all the manure around all the trees and it looks like it will have to be done over the next couple of weeks. I will get it done and now that I have the Christmas break I will spend one of the days to get the job done.

I can see that buds are ready for next year, as the picture shows. The picture is a but blurry but it shows the buds on a cherry tree.

Manure has arrived

The bovine manure has arrived. Yeah

The stuff arrived in the week. I must have more than a couple of tonnes of the stuff. I started loading the wheel barrow as soon as I could. I then spread some around the trees nearest the delivery point and then working outward. I started about 10am on Sunday Morning and by the time I stopped for the day when it was getting dark I had only done 36 wheel barrow loads and still have 53 trees to get done.

I figure all the trees will get at least a 2 wheel barrow loads of the magical muck each. The reason its taking so long is that that I have to fill the wheel barrow then then walk to the tree spread the stuff and then walk back to the heap then on to the next tree which is always further away than the last one from the manure.

I am hoping to complete the task next weekend. Its not as smelly a task as you might imagine, and its easier than I thought it would be.

I did have a couple of other errands to get done and its starts to get dark at 3:30, I'm not sure exactly what time I finished, but I felt that 36 wheelbarrows of manure was a little short. I was hoping to get at least 1 barrow per tree done on the first day.

All the muck only cost £30, which I think is a bargain, and I will be defiantly getting more in.

I have spoken to a couple of other people and I may be getting another couple of tonnes of extremely rotten horse manure soon. This I will have to check to ensure it is rotten, before I put it down and around the trees.

Mushrooms and worms

I am seeing lots more mushrooms around the orchard. I have taken a couple of pictures of some of them and they have been uploaded. I can only presume that most are poisonous, and shouldn't be picked. I was once told only pick and eat mushrooms that grow above head height. That usual means chicken of the wood. The one at the bottom is the most interesting and the most strange.

I am also seeing loads of earthworm casts under the trees, practically under every tree. I think the worms are eating the leaves that have fallen from the trees recently and making the ground and the soil around the trees lovely. I will be putting lots of wood shavings under the trees over the next couple of days and finishing off the tree guards. The wood shavings are to keep the soil warm over the winter months, they will remove some of the nitrogen but as they decompose they will add more organic matter to the soil.

The bees seem fine, last weekend the weather was warm and they were flying in and out they seem to be bringing back pollen that is very bright orange.

Getting ready for tonnes of manure

I spent 4 hours on Thursday weeding. I cleared most of the ground underneath the trees of weeds. The soil is fantastic. When I originally planted many of the trees the soil was hard and sandy and in places it  had clay however working underneath the trees this weekend out I found the soil loose and like lush compost. Much of it will be from the organic matter I have dumped around each tree over the past couple of years but also because of the work earth worms have been doing.

I have put wood shavings underneath most of trees; I have a couple more to do but the manure should arrive during the coming week some time. The manure the wood shavings and the leaves I have been collecting will make a great compost that will feed the trees throughout the next couple of months.

It looks like I am in for a busy weekend but am looking forward to the manure arriving and spreading it around the trees. I know its insane to be pleased that a pile of muck is going to arrive but to me its like I have ordered a meal that the trees are going to love.

Its crazy I know but that's just how it is.

Colours of Autum

The leaves on the trees are now a nice yellow or red, very few still have green leaves which means the sugars in the leaves are heading going back down to the root ball of the trees.

Some of the trees have already lost all the leaves and look barren, though I can see the buds that should open next spring.

I can see the growth over the past year, from the fresh wood and I'm please with the progress. I can see the growth that the trees have made this year and since we planted them more than 3 years ago. Some off the trees are doing really well and perhaps in a couple of years we will have lots of fruit.

I can see lots of mushrooms around the place, though I probably would never pick them. Lots seem to be gathering around the quince  trees. I have displayed a picture of some of the mushrooms, but I have a fair few.

I have checked on the bees as the weather was warm and I could see them buzzing around. They seem happy, they have lots of food and seem to be doing well. They look like they are entering winter well.