Under normal circumstances, you would have got up, at The Sidings, yesterday and complained about persistent drizzle and strong winds. Under prevailing circumstances, we got up and thought: Oh look! It's stopped raining. More or less. And the wind has finally dropped. Hooray. We can shift the fruit trees.
Fortunately, the weather had improved on one of my rare days off. We took a leisurely start to the day, ambled through a rather pleasant breakfast of tinned tomatoes and boiled eggs on toast, with orange juice and a coffee chaser, then off we went to Sheffield in the van, through intermittent drizzle and gusting rain. Taking with us the bottles, cans, foil and tins that won't fit in the blue recycling box which has been unemptied since Christmas. And the plastics. For some reason, our council refuses to collect plastic. We take it to Waitrose in Sheffield when we go and put it in their plastics recycling box. Anyway. Off we went. And then headed up to the allotment at Hangingwater to collect the fruit trees.
The rain sort of held off. Drifts of drizzle wafted in up the valley, but there was only one proper shower which didn’t last very long. No real wind, to speak of. I harvested the leeks and some of the kale, then dug up some raspberry canes, while The Builder dug up the trees. The apple tree was fine. Came up with no problems at all. The sweet cherry wasn’t too bad. The morello complained and fought and hissed and spat and really, really struggled! The Builder eventually prevailed, though it was a hard fought battle. We decided, reluctantly, not to attempt the Victoria plum. It has never fruited; the blossom blows off as fast as it is formed. It is true that that might be less of a problem in The Orchard, which is more sheltered, but the real problem is that it has grown into quite a substantial tree while we weren’t watching. I think you would need a JCB to shift it. And we haven’t got one!
Somehow, The Builder managed to get the trees, the wheelbarrow and all the tools and things into the back of the van. Not as easy a task as it sounds; the trees are taller than the van space, which is enough for The Builder to stand upright in. Then off we went, taking the trees to their new home; the start of The Orchard!
Was a bit sad, though, digging them up from the Hangingwater allotment. I’ve been thinking lately that I will be pleased to hand it back at the end of March, when my tenancy runs out. It’s not really convenient any more, having it there, and there is more than enough to do in the garden, the kitchen garden and on the new allotment. We did, briefly, consider hanging onto it for another year or two, but swiftly gave the idea up. I was reminded yesterday, though, of how very beautiful it is on the Hangingwater allotment. And I do miss Martin!
Anyway, that aside, it was very exciting to get The Orchard started. The Builder began digging the hole for the morello. Got it planted. The morello fought back and tried to scratch his nose! Marlo and I came down to watch and encourage, though Marlo seemed a bit worried by the process for some reason. And we now have all three trees planted and have plans for more. We’ve also decided to dismantle the raised beds on the bricked area. We would never have put them there had we had any idea that we would get the extra ground. We are going to use the fruit bushes and canes as hedging along the concrete path, and the boards as edgings for the vegetable beds. Then I think we will brick the area where the raised beds were, properly as a patio. The barbecue can live there!
And we woke today, after a stormy, stormy night, to find that the rain really has stopped and the wind finally has died away. The barometer is set fair. The sun is shining in a clear blue sky. It’s a beautiful day. And it’s absolutely freezing! We had to scrape the car windows before The Builder could bring me in to work this morning. Have barely had to do that at all this winter, so far. Will have to dig out my deep winter kit again!!
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