Looking at 85a to start with though, I have installed a wildlife camera after my plot was robbed (I know, closing the door after the horse has bolted) and whilst thankfully I haven't had any more problems I have had some photos of my plot when I'm not there. It's amazing how many pigeons and rooks come to the plot and I definitely need to work out how to stop them from eating all the food on the bird feeders!
On the few days in between the snow I found that my hellebores were flowering and that the frogs were busy in the pond. I now have a big ball of frogspawn which fingers crossed will give me lots of new frogs later in the year. I also noticed today that both peony plants were starting to grow - last year only one of them grew so I'm surprised and very happy to see the second one starting to grow - hopefully we'll see flowers on it this year. The original peony has lovely white flowers and I've used a twister plant support that I bought from QVC (product code 514104); they're really clever because you just gather the stems into the twister and it supports the stems without damaging them - I'll try and get a picture when it's flowering. I've just popped a pyramid shaped topiary form over the second peony but I'll probably swap it out for another twister support before it starts to flower.
Some of the jobs I've done so far this year is the pruning of the raspberries; they are autumn fruiting so need to be cut down to the ground in early spring. I've pruned the berries in the fruit-cage and I pruned the grape vine in the polytunnel. I still need to finish tidying the polytunnel and the shed but all of the beds are looking good and ready to go once the soil heats up.
In the new plot (86a) I've strimmed the whole plot but haven't managed to get it covered yet. There are boards pushed into the ground that I can't get out so I need Mr L to come and help me, they also hammered metal stakes into the ground that need to be removed if we can manage it. I also want to remove all of the current beds so that I can start again from scratch. My plan is to cover the whole plot with weed membrane and then I'm going to build the beds and cut the membrane out from inside. I will take photos or maybe do a video when I get started properly with it.
Today on 86a however I planted an apple tree at the entrance. It was a tree that's been given to me by another plot holder and I've had it in a big bucket in the shed for a few days but today I was able to get it planted. It's slightly late to be moving apple trees but even though it's been dug up and moved it had loads of buds so you never know we might even get some blossom and apples this year. I also lightly pruned any branches that were crossing.
I'm hoping to get back up to the plot again this week before I go back to work but who knows what the weather will do in the next few days, so until next time - Happy Gardening :-)
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