Adam's Garden

As the cherry and plum trees break out of their winter dormancy I dress the surrounding ground with a sprinkling of Sulphate of ammonia in order to give them a shot of nitrogen, a kind of booster to give them a flying start for the coming season. On top of that goes a fairly thick layer of well rotted manure as mulch, pulled slightly back from the trunk to prevent disease. For this job I prefer to use manure that has rotted so much that it is nicely crumbly, almost like compost, because the fresher variety often has slimy clods that attract flies and persist over the spring and summer rather than , with the assistance of worms and weather, gently incorporating into the soil. As well as improving the structure of the soil around the trees and giving a few extra nutrients, the mulch helps to retain moisture during the drier months - especially important for young or newly planted trees. Another benefit is the reduced requirement for weeding. I usually keep the grass down in the orchard by strimming, but as anyone who regularly uses a strimmer will know, the worst thing you can do is to cut too close to a tree, because sooner or later the inevitable happens and the tree is damaged in a very vulnerable position low down on the trunk. Having learnt my lesson the hard way in the past I now leave a gap of eight inches or so around any trees and finish off the job by hand. This final bit of weeding can be very tedious and a mulch solves the problem nicely.

The spring has been up to its' usual trick of hitting us with wildly fluctuating temperatures, but the last month or so has brought an unfortunate set of circumstances for the fruit trees, a spell of incredibly mild weather culminating in a veritable heat wave over Easter - several days in the sixties Fahrenheit - followed by a week of hard frosts.The plum trees blossomed and mercifully had almost finished by the time the frosts arrived, but the cherry trees were in full flower at the most vulnerable time. As we have had a very poor crop for the last three years I did my best to protect the flowers with horticultural fleece, not the easiest of tasks because the feather-light fabric is lifted by the slightest breeze, and coming supplied in metre wide strips is quite tricky to wrap around trees, and even trickier to tie down. The exercise has not been a great success. Each morning at least some of the blossom has been exposed to the frost, mainly because the wind has lifted off the looser sections of fleece, and on more than one occasions the fleece has become soaked and subsequently frozen onto the tree. The uppermost blossom, immediately underneath the fleece, has turned brown and become soggy, but the rest appears to have survived relatively unscathed. The parts of the tree that remained uncovered and bore the full brunt of what were in some cases quite severe frosts actually look to be in a better condition! I have heard that netting does a better job, something I shall try in future years perhaps.

In the orchard I have several beds for various different purposes. This part of the farm is what I would term the 'utility' gardening area. It is not designed to look nice, but for the production of plants for elsewhere and growing some of the vegetables. The greenhouse is situated here as well as a small shed for pots and a larger shed used for overwintering plants. There is one bed for onions and mangetout, one nursery bed for ornamentals, one for greens and one in which this year I shall attempt to grow melons from seed kindly sent by a reader from Iowa. Having spent many occasions weeding around these beds I decided this month to obviate this onerous task by pegging six inch boards around them. It was a slightly time-consuming task, producing pegs from offcuts proving the most tedious part, and used more timber than expected, but in the long run will save a lot of time and effort particularly when time is limited during the summer. The boards will help contain the sloping soil and provide an edge to work to when strimming. The only drawback with boards of this type is the haven they provide for slugs. Looking on the bright side you could say that in so doing they concentrate the enemy!

The final job in the orchard this month was the introduction of a large composting area. I use the term 'area' because it is four posts forming a square around which is wrapped three foot high weldmesh netting. After filling it with layers of vegetation and soil it will be covered with a lid of polystyrene and polythene and another section built adjacent to the original heap. In this way there should be a good supply 'cooking' when the first batch is ready. The position is a very open sunny spot so there should be plenty of heat to accelerate the rotting process, and air (essential for composting) filtering through the sides. The final element required for the rotting process is water, which will be no problem given our local rainfall figures. Once the lid is in place occasional watering may be necessary. The rooks, with their elevated view of the farm, spotted the new heap almost immediately and have already started to pick it over. I don't anticipate this causing too much trouble because the heap is fairly well contained, and it will help to mix the vegetation.

Seed sowing in the greenhouse is almost over for another year, thank goodness, and the young bedding plants are at various stages of development. They will remain indoors for a month or so yet and the hardier varieties are already being toughened up in cold frames, where they benefit from the better ventilation and light levels. The propagator is very susceptible to algae this year. I have been using Cheshunt solution to prevent damping off but the algae seems to be forming nevertheless, and germination rates have dropped off considerably. Temperatures in the greenhouse are high enough to germinate the remaining varieties now, so the propagator can be taken out of commission and used for Surfinia cuttings.

The emphasis in the gardening calendar is now switching from indoor work and preparation to planting and enjoying the outdoor experience. The hard work of the winter is now beginning to pay off and soon, once more, we will be able to sit out in the garden and enjoy the fruit of our labours. Here's to a good crop of cherries!

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