Spring work in the orchard

That will teach me for being unobservant. I had a blossom fest right on my very own farm. The nectarine is in blossom. It’s always the first. And as a consequence it gets blasted by frost some years and I never see any fruit.

The weather looks fine for the next few days – just gusty but sunny.  So hopefully the bees will be able to retrieve the pollen without being buffetted about.

I came down to my small orchard to do some repairs.  I managed to start my day scooping up mole hill deposits from the bank above the courtyard.

I have plenty of places I could put this valuable resource; but I decided that the repairs in the orchard bank needed it most.  (Have you noticed that I have renamed these wretched mole damage deposits as ‘valuable resources’?)

So I confess. I loaded the buckets in the car and drove them down to the orchard terrace.  It’s cheating. But I couldn’t retrieve my wheelbarrow which is buried under a pile of firewood.  And the second wheelbarrow is parked in the stables.  It serves as a landing platform for the cat who has to do a controlled crash landing to get off the high platform where he is currently sleeping.  I have piled it with old tarpaulins and blankets to make it less of a dramatic event.

This is the last bit of the flood damage from (way back in) 2013.

I was eager to hide the built up soil which was liberally decorated with old gravel and mess.  So a quick layer of mole hill soil and you’d never notice.  And then a sprinkle of grass seeds and it might almost turn into a bit of lawn.

And speaking of lawns. I couldn’t resist. My fingers were twitching; the mower came out.

It is the very first mow of the year, so it should have been accompanied by a trumpet solo from the upper terraces.

I just dipped my toe so to speak.  I mowed the orchard, the track and a teensy bit of the lawn in front of the house.  It felt great to be turning this mass of green and sea of almost bursting into life weeds to a sward.

I fear you are going to be subjected to lots of lawn shots later.  That will teach me having acres of the stuff.