Another month of not very much. It is too wet to do anything
and too early do the rest. However, Momma P and I have been visiting weekly mainly to
feed the foxes and the birds (and the rats, and local neighbourhood cats). The
daffodil bulbs are coming up beautifully in the quince bed, and the crocus are
poking through the anti-fox-digging mesh on the flower bed.
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| Flower bed bulbs |
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| Quince bed bulbs |
I have been to prune the apple tree. This is potentially the
first time it’s been pruned since being put in nine years ago! I am hoping that
it helps to reduce apple scab. It looks a lot more open now and less tangled.
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| Before.... |
Pruning is done to help shape trees (aiming for an open
goblet/wine glass sort of shape). Any dead, damaged or diseased bits are cut
off and sacrificed to a compost heap, and then any branches growing inwards
into the centre of the goblet are removed, and finally any branches that cross
over are selectively pruned, to prevent rubbing. I also chopped some tall bits
down, and some side bits back to stop them growing over my neighbours plot. I piled
the twigs up at the base of the tree so I could see how much I had cut, aiming
to only remove a third of the canopy. Having the pile close by helps to visualise
this!
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| ....after! |
I have shredded stacks of paperwork over the holidays and
this shredded paper is destined for my allotment compost bin, but I suspect
that I have a new shed rodent so I don’t want to put the bin bag of paper in
the shed yet to store it as rodent will just nest in it.
I am going to treat myself to as much peat free compost that I can get my hands on so that I have it ready to top up the beds when the weather is better. I tend to buy it from B&Q, but it depends who has it for the best offer.
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| Plot 31 at the start of 2020. This view will hopefully look totally different in a years time! |
