It's been a long, cold, lonely winter. I guess it's still winter technically, but March is the first month of spring isn't it? The days are much longer now than two months ago though we are still getting some frosty nights. Regardless, I've been itching to get out there and do some stuff. And I have!
A few weeks ago the son and I pruned the fruit bushes and took some cuttings from the redcurrant trimmings. I took some last winter too but it seems they all disappeared over the year. Hope a few of these take (I had several take the year before which were given to friends).
We also pruned the tiny Asian pear of its longest branch dragging on the ground. I took five scions off of it and attempted grafting them to the stump of the (non) flowering pear tree which the husband cut down earlier. While inspecting them yesterday it seems that two look dead, two look mostly dead, and one looks not dead yet. I guess if none of them take it's not a huge deal. I no longer have any expectations from that Asian pear; it's older than this blog but is still pretty much the same size as when it was planted. The other pear was getting out of hand, far too tall and spiky, and had never flowered. It was meant to be a pollinator for other pears in the garden, but was just not working out (especially the spikyness). And those other pears are all dead anyway.
Just this weekend I raked and weeded one of the veg beds and sowed it with a variety of root veg seeds. Just a few short rows, I sprinkled crushed eggshells over them as a slug deterrent, then covered the bed with crisscrossed sticks as a bird deterrent (mainly against escaped chickens). Last year the veg patch was mainly planted up with brassicas with a few other things here and there; I think I'll do mostly roots this year. All the other veg can go to the allotment.
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