It was a real treat on Wednesday to have John Negus on the acre and he gave us an insightful demonstration on caring for our trees. Despite the early frosty conditions, a good turnout ensured that John's encyclopedic tree knowledge reached a wide audience who listened attentively and watched as John demonstrated how selective pruning will improve tree health and ensure healthy crops on the fruit bearers. As it was too cold to actually prune, woolen ties now mark the branches that need to be removed when we get two or three warmer days in a row. The trees were checked for disease and a plan is now on our new whiteboard to ensure their continued care and health moving forward. A big thank you to John for giving us such an instructional morning which taught us so much!
Soon we were busy putting the plan into action as we cleared the bases of our mature pear and apple trees of bramble, weed and ivy. Their bases were then treated to a covering of wood chips to suppress the growth returning. A big thank you to Kelly, Brendan, Scarlett, Louis, Nick and Sue for carrying out the task - the trees look so much better for it and hopefully we'll continue to get bumper fruit crops in years to come.
This great work was continued by the Thursday Gardening Club with Libby and Nick able to do some pruning as the weather was a little milder. Libby also got stuck into the ivy that had taken over the tree by the maze so it now stands a better chance of thriving in coming years.
Excitement continues to grow around the imminent building of our new cabin, and rightly so! Soon we'll have our very own space to meet and work, to fire our imagination by learning new skills and getting projects on the go. The pond will be landscaped this Spring ( get involved!), the greenhouses need moving ( erecting too), further fruit beds need digging... the possibilities for our wonderful acre can only be brought to fruition by the great support and ideas that everyone brings with them each week. Isobel is putting together a vegetable shopping list so do let her know if you have a favourite crop you want next year. We're all looking forward to some great al fresco cooking this summer!
One last thank you to Nicky for her scrumptious home baking on Wednesday - I'm not sure one cake was enough!