Fruit bushes finally in the ground

Posted by louisa on Monday 14 February 2011 in growing | 4 comments

I spent what felt like all Saturday but was actually just four hours in the garden – it seems I’ve lost some stamina over the winter! It was hard work and I ached in the evening but I finally got all our fruit bushes in the ground. Well, fruit sticks which will hopefully one day become bushes. These are, respectively, one of the raspberries (Tulameen) and one of the redcurrants (Jonkheer Van Tets) that I bought as part of a super-cheap deal from Aldi last week.

The four blackcurrants look a little more alive – not just bare sticks — probably a sign I should have planted them out a few weeks ago…

I had two pairs of blackcurrant bushes – two from the Aldi batch, two from elsewhere – and there was a very clear difference between the two — even though the other ones were still cheap, their roots looked a lot more established. I guess I’ll have to see if that makes a difference in the long run. (For my future reference, they’re planted Ben Nevis, Ben Lomond, Ben Lomond, Ben Nevis – with the Ben Lomonds from Aldi.)

I also *finally* potted on the lingonberry (Ida) and cranberry (Pilgrim) bushes that arrived in the middle of the snow a month ago.

They were in ok-sized pots anyway so I just left them as they were in the greenhouse while it was cold outside. Now they’ve finally got room to stretch.

So that’s eight fruit bushes in the ground, and two in containers. Fruit-wise, we’ve also got eight trees planted this year, with a spot prepared for my cherry tree (which will hopefully arrive soon), and my strawberry runners seem to be going ok too. I think that’ll be all the fruit we’ll go with this year – now to concentrate on veg!

What fruit are you growing this year? Any new additions to the garden/plot?

The weekend’s pottering

Posted by louisa on Monday 17 January 2011 in meta | 10 comments

Some of the things we’ve done this weekend:

• Started crocheting a new blanket – I got some “kool kotton” yarn a few months ago and think it’ll make a lovely blanket. I’m doing a granny stripe, about 5ft long — not sure I’ll have the patience to make it 5ft square (it takes nearly half an hour to do each stripe!) but if I get it to about 3ft wide, it’ll be perfect for using on the sofa. (I’ve already doubled the stripe count since I took this picture.)
• Took two boxes of books and misc stuff to the charity shop – they’ve been sat in the dumping ground on the landing for about three months. Would be nice to get that space decluttered and usable!
• Chopped down a sycamore tree – we planned to cut it down about six weeks ago when it lost the last of its leaves but weather & illness stopped us. It’s now cleared the way for an apple tree.
• Bought two blackcurrant bushes – for some reason blackcurrants have been popping up in conversations recently and I felt inspired to buy them. I’ve realised I left a few decorative shrubs in the garden last year – they can come out and be replaced with fruit bushes like these. I’m also tempted by some raspberry canes – it’s definitely going to be the year of fruit this year (or more accurately, fruit year minus one, since things will need time to get bedded in).
• Sorted out my seed box – cor, I’ve apparently got high hopes for this year! Lots o’ seeds! I’m going to try to be realistic about my space/workload – I’ll give away some seeds now and probably some seedlings too, depending on how germination goes. Some stuff needs to be started in January – so I guess I’ll do that next weekend, weather permitting.
• Restocked our spice cupboard after a trip to Pakeezah – been running low on a few things – should be good for a few months now and at a fraction of the cost if we’d bought them at one of the big three supermarkets.
• I was at a drama rehearsal until 10:30pm on Friday and John cooked spare ribs for when I finally got home – they were pretty good and we’ve got some ideas on how to make them perfect. Every now and then I get severe cravings for good ribs and up til now, they’ve been one thing we can’t really cook at home – will be good to crack them!
• Had Kheer for the first time yesterday – sweet, creamy rice pudding with cardamom and pistachios, and John thought some rose water too. Yum! Will have that again – and will see if I can work out a recipe as well.
• Finally caught up on the sleep I’ve missed out on over the last fortnight – woo!
• Got overly proud at finding 5 eggs in the nest box yesterday morning – either Lime is back laying again after her moult (unlikely at the moment) or both of the new batch Black Rocks are laying now. We’ve had 4 eggs a day for the last few days, so going up to 5 was a thrill. Just Buff – who will lay white eggs – to debut now.

Aside from that and some other good eating, it was a lazy one. Was good though :)