Another wet summer, but look on the bright side.

Well I bet you thought that was the last you would hear from me. Another one post wonder! True I've not been blogging for a while, but other things have demanded my attention. In fact I cannot believe where this year has gone!

During the spring we had fantastic weather here, almost too hot to work in the sun sometimes, but now the summer weather has arrived, wall to wall rain. This morning the water was lying in puddles on the cultivated ground, how glad I am to have some raised beds and I think there will be more to come if this is the weather pattern we are to expect.

However I'm not going to moan and groan, lets look on the bright side.
Lets have a bit of history.

Back in 2002 I bought a load of seeds from Martin Crawford of the Agroforestry Research Trust. Many of the seeds were for varieties considered very experimental in our climate, but I wanted to try different tree crops. The fridge was partially occupied by stratifying seeds over winter, but in truth I now think natural winter temperature fluctuations are just as good or better at breaking dormancy!

So where is this leading? I'm just really excited about how well the myrobilan are doing! These are also called Cherry-Plum and are more often used as ornamentals.

Many people have told me that they will not fruit or will fruit poorly in the UK.

HOWEVER look at these pictures!

If this is poor fruiting then roll on the good years!

These trees are only six years old. We have had a small quantity fruit over the last couple of years, but only enough to eat off the tree. This year we plan to experiment with bottling and jamming.







If anyone out there has experience of using cherry plums we'd love to hear from you.








Oh Yes, I forgot to mention the pleasure the blossom brings in the early spring. That is the only word of caution, don't plant them is a frost pocket......like I have! Of course being seedlings they have different characteristics, like flowering time. So some of mine caught a frost this year, and some didn't.

A wonderful thing Diversity!

Cloches In The Spring

We seem to have gone back into winter again. It so often happens that February brings a false spring, the birds, the trees and I all feel it. Those days that make you sweat with the burden of winter clothing, tempting you to discard the extra pair of socks and sow the seeds of tender plants, when in your heart you know it's too soon for either. Well it's happened again! Last week was beautiful here in Wales, sunny days, drying ground and bird song. Then last night, however, brought a different story. Cold wintry showers, icy rain and a covering of snow by morning. Yet this is seasonal and I always wonder at my inability (or is it an unwillingness) to expect it. Some of my favorite memories are of these early spring days, so precious, when you can get out and feel the earth returning to life after the little death of winter; when we can start to prepare for spring proper and plan for the year ahead. The cloches which I was making in the winter have already been deployed in the garden with an early sowing of carrots, spring onions and radish to get the salad crops going. The lettuce have just germinated in the propagator and will be planted out a little later, when spring proper has arrived. But when is that?

The old sayings come to mind, "ne'er cast a clout 'til may is out" was always a favorite of my grandfather, a clout being an item of clothing (so I'm told) , suggesting that we should be ready for cold weather, even until the end of May. Then of course there is "Blackthorn Winter" and true enough we often get another cold snap when the Blackthorn or Sloe is in blossom which is generally early April with us.

So cloches are good, warming the ground when the sun shines and conserving that warmth when it doesn't. They also allow it to dry out a bit quicker which is a boon for us in the West of Britain, but when it does rain the water soaks into the ground under them as they are not too wide, meaning less watering is needed in the early summer. Now there is something to look forward to!