Mighty oaks

Nine new trees for the farm.   And in the shape of quercus rubra – Northern red oaks.   I bought them at Vachon two days ago (forgot to post yesterday for some reason) and am delighted with the choice.

I was looking for some simple quercus trees to complement the one oak that sits majestically on the bank above the courtyard.

Well, maybe not magestically.   It is hampered in its height by the fact it grows on a huge rock.   But it is a good spreader so it does a job of masking a bit of the courtyard from the road above.

And now there are nine Northern red oaks and one green oak to keep it company.

I have placed them randomly but in an attempt to make it look a bit more natural. The whole mountain is covered in randomly planted trees and I thought it would look odd to have them in a militarily spaced line.

And the exciting news is that these oaks take on beautiful red tints in autumn, something this garden does not have.   Not unless you count the half dozen acers planted in the hedge further along the property.

But I have to get them to their first autumn first.   They have been lavished so far. Long may it continue.

A spot of lavishing was going on elsewhere today too.

Not only have I weeded the raspberries but covered them with a good layer of home made compost too.   Where will all these good deeds end?

The compost bins up here were a mess. Frankly a disgrace. Just some old pallets cobbled together and all sorts of vegetation dumped here throughout the season.

So I dismantled them, pulled away the half rotting compost, and dug down to the black gold underneath.

It was no easy matter to extract the stuff.   Sieving and sorting and dispatching some rather fat grubs.   But at least I didn’t have to trudge too far to pour the lovely sieved compost onto the bed.

The raspberry bed is now done.

Tomorrow if I can (bad back willing) I will try and get the rest of the vegetable garden weeded and then I can ignore it blissfully for months more.

Well, I will have to sow the red clover as a green manure over all the exposed and perfectly weeded bits.

But that can’t happen until the end of February at the earliest.   Snow is predicted this weekend.

And in case you were wondering, I had my supervisor close by all day. Gushing and affectionate and clingy. Heaven.