Here’s how the trees have been planted in the new orchard
We have tried to keep all of the trees at least 5m apart, but have had to work around two existing trees. It is difficult to know how to lay out these trees – should they be in lines or should they be random. We ended up with a sort of mixed approach. I did put out some orange cones to mark the positions of the trees before planting them. This enabled me to check what the alignment looked like from various locations (i.e. from the roadside, out of the kitchen window etc). I hope that the layout is a reasonable compromise as the trees are going to there for some time!!
All of the trees have been planted with strimmer guards as well as a plastic surround to protect them from the occasional deer that wander into the orchard.
The new orchard is now completely re-planted. 14 new trees have replaced the old ones. We left one tree from the original orchard plus one new tree that we planted two years ago.
The new trees are all planted at least 5m apart providing plenty of space for them to grow as well as enabling us to be able to mow around them easily. It took a little while to work out the planting plan mainly taking into account the two existing trees!
We have planted the following:
Apple Ribston Pippin Whip (M25)
Apple Spartan Whip (M25)
Apple Yorkshire Aromatic Whip (M25)
Cherry Morello Whip (Avium F-12/1)
Cherry Stella Whip (Avium F-12/1)
Pear Conference Whip (seedling pear)
Pear Doyenne du Comice Whip (seedling pear)
Plum Victoria (Myrobalan B)
Apple Ashmeads Kernel Feathered (M25)
Apple Blenheim Orange Whip (M25)
Apple Newton Wonder Feathered (M25)
Apple Michaelmas Red Feathered (M25)
Damson Merryweather Whip (Myrobalan B)
Plum Anna Spath Whip (Myrobalan B)
These are in addition to two existing trees:
Quince tree planted 2 years ago
Plum Victoria – the only tree left from the original orchard.
All f the new new trees came from RV Roger’s nursery based in Pickering, North Yorkshire.
There were 5 tree stumps left that we simply couldn’t dig out without demolishing the dry stone wall at the same time. There was no alternative, but to grind the stumps out.
There is a row of conifers alongside the road outside the property – they have been there ever since we moved in. Recently, these roadside conifers have become more and more of a problem as they take a lot of water out of the ground (impacting the vegetable plot) and produce a lot of shade (again impacting the vegetable plot). On the upside, they do provide a good wind break!
When you look at the before and after photos below, you begin to realise just how much they have grown in the last 8 years. Our local tree surgeon reckons that they will only last another 10-15 years at most. In fact, we have already lost some of them in the last couple of years.
Rather than leave them to the bitter end, we have decided it is high time that the roadside conifers are taken down. We are going to replace them with natural hedging that is more in keeping with this area. However, it does mean fell them and then digging out the roots! Hopefully, we will be able to digging out the roots without knocking down the dry stone wall at the front of the property!
The good news is that it will provide space for (yet) another row of fruit trees in the orchard.
The conifers along the roadside in December 2013. This was the day Northern Power Grid installed our three phase electricity supply.This is taken almost 8 years to the day later than the previous picture. It is difficult to believe how much they have grown in that time.It looks pretty bare now with them gone, but once a natural hedge takes it’s place it won’t look so bad.
We installed two sets of suspended lights in the kitchen back in 2014. It was one of those things that we installed with every intention of “tweaking” at a later date. However, we never seemed to get around to it! On a couple of occasions we thought it could have been a little bit brighter in the kitchen.
I thought it would just be a case of changing over the light bulbs.
Screwfix stock some slightly brighter 12V LED MR16 bulbs. I thought it would just be a case of swapping the bulbs over. Simples. But no. That didn’t work. Well, it worked for one. But once all the bulbs were replaced, they all went very dim. Some of the new ones stopped working altogether!
Although the difference in the LED bulbs (4W for the old ones and 6W for the new ones) was minimal, it seem enough to tip the old LED drivers over the edge! A quick test with a volt meter showed that the LED drivers where outputting about 4-5V rather than 12V. I later wondered whether it was the defective LED drivers that was producing the dim lighting. However, by this point I had swapped all the bulbs over! I wasn’t going back!
On reflection, the old drivers were 7 years old so they hadn’t done too badly. The replacements were only £15 each on Amazon. Simply changing the drivers over fixed the issue of dim or non-working bulbs.
Two new LED drivers for the suspended lights in the kitchen. One driver for each row of lights. Each driver is rated to 60W, but there is only 5 lights on each row (each is around 6W each). £15 each from Amazon.Replacement 12V MR16 bulbs from Screwfix. £8.29 eachNew bulbs installed and now significantly brighter than before!!
It has been a long time coming, but we have decided it is time to plant new trees in the orchard. It is easy to forget how overgrown this was when we first moved into the property. Despite multiple attempts at pruning the existing trees, we have finally had to admit defeat! Plus the wind has taken it’s toll on the aged trees and we have probably lost 4-5 during the last couple of years.
Cutting the existing trees down seems like a big step, but they are at the end of their life and need to make way for new ones. The existing fruit trees either bore little fruit or no fruit at all.
Looking back at the orchard when we first moved in, it is a wonder that we hadn’t done this earlier! Here’s a post from 2013!
We have replaced all of the trees with heritage varieties – all of which have been grown in Yorkshire. After talking to a number of suppliers, we ordered all of our trees with RV Rogers in Pickering.
Here’s a list of what we have planted.
The intention here is that these are full height trees (rather than dwarf trees). This will enable us to mow around them with ease.
OK, I am on a break. First job – cut the trees down into logs. Second job is to feed the left over branches into a shredder. Third job is to dig up the roots with a mini digger!Then it is a case of tracking in the soil where the old trees had been and reseeding the grass.Once the grass had reseeded, it was a case of marking out where the new trees are going to goNew trees planted – the first 8 are in! The tree in the foreground on the left is a Quince tree that we planted a couple of years ago.Each tree has a hefty stake and a strim guard (the dark brown thing at the base of each tree). This protects them when using a strimmer.Each of the trees has a pretty hefty stake in place, plus a strim guard, felt mat and a protective green basket (to protect it from chickens, dogs and deer!).
And just for the sheer hell of it, here are a couple of pictures from the orchard in 2013/2014.
This was after we had had a good tidy up. The old shed is gone and the trees have been pruned back.The dry stone wall along the edge of the orchard has been rebuilt – if there was ever one there in the first place!Here’s the orchard as it was when we first moved in.The shed at the end of the orchard (this is where the gates are now).
We just planted some autumn onions that should be ready next June/July. We always seem to have a problem with onions bolting, but hopefully we will have more success this year. We are trying a slightly different variety this year.
We add some lime and fish blood fertiliser to the soil before planting.
We have never tested the soil here ever since we moved in. I think that it is fair to say that our success with growing vegetables has been “variable”. Some, although not all of it, maybe due to the quality of the soil. It is time to do some tests!!
Jo found a kit online that contains enough chemicals for up to 40 individual tests. Given that we are growing vegetables in a number of different locations on the property, it makes sense to do a number of tests in different locations.
The tests are easy to do once you get the hang of it. There are four separate tests: PH, Phosporous (P), Potassium (K), and Nitrogen (N).
For the PKN tests, the results all follow the same categorisation:
4 = Surplus
3 = Sufficient
2 = Adequate
1 = Deficient
0 = Depleted
So we tested four different locations where we are growing vegetables. The results are shown below
Test
Left Veg Patch
Right Veg patch
Polytunnel
Greenhouse
PH
5.0
5.25
5.5
6.5
P
P3
P3
P3
P3
K
K2
K0
K0
K0
N
N0
N0
N0
N0
With the exception of the greenhouse, all of the soil is a little bit acidic and can do with being raised. Ideally, the PH should be between 6 and 7. All of the samples, including the veg patch where we have been growing peas and beans, is indicating that it is low in Nitrogen.
I am not sure how accurate these test kits are. Having read the reviews for various test kits on Amazon, the feedback on these kits seems to be “mixed”.
This particular kit seems to be available under a number of different brands, but it is the same kit inside. They all retail for around £25. How accurate are they? Mmmm. Not sure.Using the test kit on the samples from the vegetable patchesThis bed had broad beans and peas in it until very recently. This is the left hand bed in the vegetable patch.
We had a bit of spare space for some carrots. In fact, we had two spare spaces, so I have sewed a couple of rows of carrots in both locations. Just to be able to compare how they fare!
Jo has been trying to grow these in the new greenhouse. However, I suspect that it is too hot in there for carrots! Let see how they do in outside in the vegetable patch.
Three guesses where we got these from?? Not sure that they are the best variety for us, but they were free!
I spotted some seed potatoes to harvest at Christmas time. But we didn’t have enough space in the current vegetable. However, one of the previous sets of potatoes really seems to be struggling and I decided to clean one row of these to make way for a new planting of Christmas potatoes.
So the poorly performing potatoes were the Second Earlies – Nadine. The main crop – Golden Wonder – are doing really well. However, just because we have a lot of greenery doesn’t mean that we have a lot of potatoes. But we will have to see. I decided to sacrifice one row of Nadine to make way for a row of Maris Piper.
Having decided that the Nadine potatoes weren’t doing very well, the 5 or 6 plants that I dug up produced quite a few potatoes – all small, but in good condition.
Space for a row of Christmas potatoes. The beetroots are in the bottom right coner.Not too bad for just 5-6 plants given that there wasn’t a lot of greenery on the surface!From the local garden centre – should be ready well in time for Christmas
