Everything Rosy

 5 - 14 November 2020

The weather is unseasonably glorious, unlikely things are blooming, and we are getting a very lot of work done in the garden.

We are planting broad beans through the straw everywhere we can.  Even if we don't use them as a crop, they are an excellent soil improver, fixing nitrogen in their leaves and roots.  If we decide not to leave them to crop, we cut and drop the plants at flowering time.

Dave hammering a stake for one of our four new trees - we decided to put two proper apples in the beds where lots of apple seedlings have come up self-seeded from compost.  It seems to be an indicator that they will like it there.  There is also a big Robinia shading this area to help keep them cool in summer.

The other two new trees - a pear in the foreground, and almost directly behind it is a plum, in the new forest garden beds, where there are still two ditches to dig out.

The second ditch underway, with chicken help.  I flooded this one to try to soften the earth a bit to make it easier, but it mostly just made it muddy.

The mystery plants that are flourishing in the heart bed are, according to Google Lens, chia plants.  I do remember throwing out a packet of seeds bought for consumption that I'd had a long time.  Clearly they were still viable.  Very beautiful.

Everything in the garden is rosy, especially the roses, which are going crazy.

The top forest bed, with ditches above and below - covered in straw.

All the citrus have also been cleared, and specifically not manured, as I read recently that they don't like it.  So they get compost instead.  We'll see if it means they start fruiting properly.  This orange tree has produced two fruit - one of them a proper size (and just visible at the lower right side, still yellowy green)

A Moringa leaf salad - with delicate saffron stamens from the crocuses in the garden.