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what shall we do with additional land?
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gil
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 11 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

How wonderful, yummersetter ! Your new orchard is coming on well.

Sally Too



Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 11 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Beautiful picture!

I planted a few trees a couple of years ago - It is really wonderful when they finally fruit and you get to taste off the tree, isn't it!

Trouble is I lost the sheet telling me what I planted where! Duh!

T.G



Joined: 13 Sep 2009
Posts: 7280
Location: Somewhere you're not
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 11 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

yummersetter wrote:
aaah - still trying with those vines, only three of those survived plus 2 of the 6 replacements I planted the following year. Six more on order and if they don't survive I'll give up on grapes, the little rodents keep eating the roots, I think.


If that's the belief and I presume the rodents dig down? Could you not plant the vines into the ground through the bottom of an upturned bucket (or large tub) which is buried in the soil? Thus, preventing anything digging down from the surface and having to dig quite some depth before reaching any roots?.. JAT

Once the vine is established you could dig the bucket/tub back out if need be.

yummersetter



Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Posts: 3241
Location: Somerset
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 11 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I was going to grow on the new vines in large pots in a sheltered place for a while to get them up and running first, so could try cutting the bottoms out when they're planted, good idea

Unless they're one of those things that need the roots to run close to the surface rather than vertically down, will have to look that up.

Because the orchard was neglected tussocky grass for a decade or two before we bought it, the top six inches of loam are riddled with mouse / shrew / vole / rat / mole ?? runs and the attempts by the dogs to dig them out really don't help my new plants.

sean
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 11 7:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

yummersetter wrote:


Unless they're one of those things that need the roots to run close to the surface rather than vertically down, will have to look that up.



Pretty sure they're not. The traditional wine-making theory is that the best wines come from poor soils precisely because it makes the vines form deep root systems.

Marches



Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England
PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 11 9:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'd plant a few pear, plum, cherry and hazel trees as well, and maybe some grape vines too (depending on where you live - South and East England is good).

I have a few cherry trees at the moment and hope to put a few plum, apple and hazel trees in next year - a sort of mini mixed fruit orchard in my (large garden).

yummersetter



Joined: 26 Jan 2008
Posts: 3241
Location: Somerset
PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 11 11:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Lovely to review the orchard story again - it's almost completely planted up with various fruit trees and shrubs and now I'm down to ground level.

There were three open areas that were originally for chickens but a snowy day let me see how busy the foxes were there, so I themed them with either red, purple or yellow fruit planting.

I'm mulching a lot of the grass area in the red patch down with cardboard and compost, in order to plant up with wild strawberries, I have two crates of violets for the purple patch and last week put in a few hundred daffodil bulbs in the yellow area, along with white and yellow strawberries.

I haven't grown hazelnuts myself as there are plenty in the surrounding hedges. Good luck with your planting, nothing better than picking your own dew-covered fruit at dawn for breakfast.

Sally Too



Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 11 8:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

yummersetter wrote:
... nothing better than picking your own dew-covered fruit at dawn for breakfast.


Or "testing" the ones put in brandy from earlier in the year.....

Marches



Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 11 12:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Hay and hayledge have become good cash crops since the fad with horses took off (which I personally see as a waste of time).

We got contractors to sow and cut ours one year and we sold it, the costs were around £400 for ten acres and the hayledge had a market value of £800.

Don't worry, it wasn't a complete monoculture, there was a lot of wildflowers in the grass since we never put chemicals on it, but the grass seed was mainly creeping red fescue with remnants of oats in it.
It was good stuff, a good grass with a few wildflowers in (not quite a wildflower meadow mind), a few oats that the poultry ate and produced a good amount.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 11 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

uk figs

need an agent ?

marigold



Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 11 6:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I live in an area which used to be famous for it's figs. This year the owners of the last (and protected) part of the fig gardens allowed me to take cuttings from the remaining trees. Some will be planted in the new community garden and the rest I will be giving to any neighbours I can persuade to plant a fig tree in their garden. I may also do some guerrilla planting if enough cuttings take .

Sally Too



Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 11 7:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

What an exciting project Marigold! Do you know the names of the varieties?

marigold



Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 11 6:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

No idea Sally! I'm told they crop well here though, so presumably one of the common UK varieties?

Cathryn



Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 11 7:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Marches wrote:
Hay and hayledge have become good cash crops since the fad with horses took off (which I personally see as a waste of time).

We got contractors to sow and cut ours one year and we sold it, the costs were around £400 for ten acres and the hayledge had a market value of £800.


Fortunately it's one of those fads that's been going on for a very, very long time and looks set to continue to do so and what a useful waste of time it's proving to be for you.

Marches



Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 11 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Cathryn wrote:
Marches wrote:
Hay and hayledge have become good cash crops since the fad with horses took off (which I personally see as a waste of time).

We got contractors to sow and cut ours one year and we sold it, the costs were around £400 for ten acres and the hayledge had a market value of £800.


Fortunately it's one of those fads that's been going on for a very, very long time and looks set to continue to do so and what a useful waste of time it's proving to be for you.


Laughing all the way to the bank.

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