The New Wood Begins To Take Shape

Most of this morning was spent at the prunery where Ann and I made a start on the second orchard. We’re tackling this one slightly differently. This time we are serping the wood clean and throwing all the brash into the middle. We will then collect the usable wood after the brash has been cleared (unless we think we can get the quad bike and trailer between the brash and the trees). It was a lovely warm and sunny day and it did seem to be a quicker way of working through the orchard.

The only downside was my back, which after four hours more or less seized up. Still my appointment with the chiropractor is tomorrow so with luck it will be fine after that. I still need to plant the 58 bare-rooted ash tree I have as soon as possible so despite the back I set off up the field to make a start and managed to get 20 in. The rest will have to wait until Saturday because I won’t be doing any digging tomorrow although I might be able to mark out a few more planting positions if I take it carefully.

While wandering up to the hen house I spotted this lovely celendine, it’s so large that when I first saw it last year I thought it might be a marsh marigold. They look so lovely and spring like.

Final picture today is the poplar tree after its trim round the edges. I don’t think I’ll save these branches for the fire though as poplar has a high water content and doesn’t burn that well. They will however eventually burn on the bonfire and the ashes will be added to the compost heap.