Sunday 13 March 2011

Apple Trees



As we arrived home at lunchtime on Friday, I said to Braveheart - I wonder when our apple trees will arrive? They are supposed to come between mid-Feb and March. I think I'll phone Thompson and Morgan and see when they are planning to dispatch them.

About an hour later, before I had got around to making my phone call, there was a knock at the door and a UPS guy delivered a HUGE tall box with three apple trees in.


So when we had finished putting the louvres and the last pane of glass in the greenhouse, we set about planting our new apple trees. First we faffed about for a while trying to remember where we had planned to put them. After a lot of measuring and placing of plant pots we settled on three locations which left a suitable space for a fourth tree in due course. We also had ready three large tree stakes, three tree ties, some bags of manure and a bag of bark chippings.




We marked out the edges of each hole as a 2 foot diameter around the tree and cut away the turf. Then we began digging. We measured the depth of the planting hole by placing the tree in the hole and checking that the earth would come up to its previous planting mark with some space for a layer of bark chippings. Once dug, we poured in a can of water and left it to soak away while Braveheart hammered in the stake.


Then we added some manure to the earth in the bottom of the hole, and some Root Grow, before placing the tree in the hole and filling it with earth to the correct depth.


Finally bark chips were added, and the tie was attached to tree and stake.


Our trees are a Bramley, a Braeburn and a Cox's Orange Pippin.

Meanwhile, indoors, the seeds I sowed last weekend are doing well. Tomatoes,
Broccoli and Sweet Pea seedlings are all growing well.






4 comments:

Auntie Noo said...

it's so thrilling when those first seed shoots appear isn't it? 3 apple trees?? Practically an orchard! ;)

Joy said...

It's such a treat to watch your garden unfold before our very eyes! I must say that your faffing around in the garden is far more productive than ours ;-)

suse-the-slow-knitta said...

having apple trees in your garden is one of life's pleasures. don't stop with three though, you can plant some espalier style against your fences.

MysteryKnitter said...

Looks awesome!