January 4th

Solving our power line problem…

It’s tree and hedge planting time and we’ve done both.  First of all the hedge; 40 lovely sturdy beech plants purchased from the nursery at Pershore Horticultural College.  We’ve planted these in the orchard as a secondary row of hedging behind an existing native hedge, curving the line across the orchard to create a bit of a windbreak.  We then planted three Betula jacquemontii ‘Silver Queen’, a variety that’s renowned for its lovely white bark.  We already have two of these in the orchard – they’ve grown incredibly quickly in the 11 years since being planted.  Although we took great care over their position, checking that we’d be able to see them from the garden, we forgot one vital thing – to look up – we planted them right under a power line!  Our concern is that one day the power company may insist on them coming down, so the new trees are replacements ‘just in case’.  If the original trees are given a reprieve then that’s great, we’ll have five ghostly looking trees to enjoy!

The fourth tree to be planted is malus ‘Laxton’s Fortune’, which is replacing an ‘Egremont Russet’ that died, having been ring barked by rabbits.  The final job was to place rabbit guards round all four trees and now wait patiently for them to grow.  Tree planting is such a satisfying job and the orchard is turning into our favourite part of the garden.

I’m still busy clearing up leaves; a good job to do on a chilly, dry day.  All the leaves are stored in leaf bins made from wire netting – we currently have three.  One’s due to be emptied this winter, so some of the flower beds will have a lovely mulch of leaf mould.

My Highlight

Watching a squirrel burying a nut in the lawn, patting it down, then placing a large leaf on top to mark the spot!