Self-Sufficiency in Style
december diary
|
Self-Sufficiency in Style december diary
|
|
|
In theory, December is the month for sitting in front of a log fire cracking nuts and reading seed catalogues. But it did not start like that, we had a disaster - animals again! |
|
We have a nice little orchard with a range of twenty trees, dwarf
varieties, mostly planted some three years ago, when we first moved into
Hangman's Cottage.
We did lose a few, probably because of excessive moisture in the soil. So these were replaced and the area carefully drained. We expected a good crop of apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, medlars, quinces and even almonds, with luck, in 2002. |
All with stakes and tree guards |
|
Not me - honest |
We awoke one morning to find disaster had struck. Five of the trees had
their bark severely attacked despite the plastic rabbit guards.
The new Rottweiler was an instant suspect as she patrols the orchard each morning when Mrs P is milking. |
| Finally, we found some rabbit
pellets. That seemed conclusive.
But even though the tree-guards had been cut shorter than usual to allow for the low branching of small trees and to make them go further, it didn't explain how the damage was so high. Our carpenter cum gamekeeper quickly found the explanation - hares! It looks as if we have lost about five trees - we shall have to see. |
Fitting full length tree protectors - after the hare has bolted. |
|
Hanging about in the larder - but not for long |
The annual bounty of wildfowl continues. A brace of Mallard duck head for
the freezer, but the Woodcock went straight to the oven.
Pheasants are now a weekly occurrence. You can read all about this on Free Harvest - Shooting |
|
Work on the walled garden continues apace.
We are anxious to get the high north wall finished in order to get fruit trees planted along its length. The wall should keep the hares out! |
|
|
Awaiting the Spring |
We plan to put strawberries at the foot of the wall between the fruit trees, but it is too late in the year for cheaper bare rooted stock to be planted out of doors. So we bought bare rooted and have potted these up and left them in the unheated greenhouse. They will be planted at the foot of the wall in the spring. The varieties are Cambridge Favourite, Elsanta, Red Gauntlet, Cambridge Vigour and Honeyoye. |
|
We have planted two more beds of soft fruit:
4 Gooseberries - Invicta, Hino Red, Hino Yellow and Rokula. 4 Black Currants - Ben Sarek, Ben Connan, Titania and Ben Moore. The varieties were selected taking onto account the usual things - a selection of different colours and flavours (Gooseberries), early and late fruiting to lengthen the season of picking, suitability for our soil and climate and resistance to disease. |
Four to a bed, five feet apart. |
|
Warmer Inside |
The red and white currant bed was next to be planted, but the weather has
turned frosty, so we will wait for a warmer spell.
The sitting room fire finally draws us to sit in front of it and dither about which varieties of raspberries to order. |
|
There was a gap in the weather just long enough to plant the redcurrant
bed: Junifer, Stanza and Rovanda. The single whitecurrant - White Versailles |
Just in - before the first winter snow shower. |
|
Hands Off! |
...and finally to round off the year, the oranges in the Conservatory are ripe. This variety is New Hall. |
|
Haring about the tastelessly named Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. |
