Flowers and Fruit

Although Friday afternoon and yesterday were spent on firewood, we had a break on Friday morning (and, actually, early afternoon) and today. Friday was flowers: pricking out petunias, rudbeckia, and cineraria; sowing some herbs and miscellaneous seeds; and planting gladioli. As well as the gladioli we lifted last autumn, we also had fifty new dwarf gladioli, which are now in pots and three patches of the old cotoneaster bed. We've also put a wig-wam (bamboo and string) in that bed, with our peas/mangetout growing up it (no space in the veg beds!).

Today was even more exciting: we've laid out the location of the paths through the copse, and planted all the fruit trees we ordered last autumn. Only the quince remains. Around the (future) pond, there's our 'old' Cox, 'Stella' cherry, and plum (can't remember the variety!), and now a second cherry (Summer Sun) and pear (William Bon Chretian). An apple (Egremont Russet) is on the other side of the entrance/arch to the pond. Another pear (Beth), plum (Victoria) and two apples (James Grieve and Falstaff) are in the copse, near the front. A plan will follow, when I can digitise something...

We also finished the potato planting, by putting in the maincrop Cara and Bounty; this meant taking up the Frostie spring cabbages, and the rest of the leeks, and also means that the veg beds are now fairly full!