An orchard sorted
This is one huge tick in the big book of chores. I came in at dusk knowing that I have made the soft fruit orchard safe.
That only took months of work. Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of soil, some amateur fencing and some planting up of the bank with some rather brutish thornless blackberry plants and it’s done.
Well, taken from this angle, you can see that I haven’t managed to get the level filled entirely. But the main thing is it’s safe. You can now walk along the back of the jostaberry shrubs and not worry about plummeting down to the terrace below.
Over the growing season, I will just fill in the gap with weeds, compost and random rocks and get the level up by the end of the year. Well, I’m banking on not having another flood and washing it all away. 
Most of the soil for the gap came from further along the bed. And you can see now that I’ve managed to clear it off down to the weedproof fabric. That felt like an achievement.
It doesn’t feel like a boast to show your weed proof fabric; but finding enough mulch to cover up this eyesore is going to be the challenge for March. I can’t possibly chip enough branches on my own with my teensy chipping machine to cover this area. So I might have to add more fabric around each of the plants. And then see what I can do.
To finish the area I want to move the three stonking blackcurrant bushes I bought from Cochet last month. Or was it the month before? Something needs to go in the gap where the thornless blackberries lurked. It’s too rich and lovely a bit of soil to waste on anything but a productive crop.
I didn’t stray very far from this part of the farm today. The rest of the time was spent moving things out of the potager that didn’t belong. Achillea Gold Plate and random self sown verbena bonariensis plants. They all heaved out easily so that was a bonus.
But it took ages trying to repair the paths. Missing gravel sections. I am resorting to picking up stones from the mucky pile in the courtyard and trying to wash off the dirt. I fear it’s going to be the Year of the Weed this coming season. Last year I managed to get clean gravel straight from the quarry onto the paths, but with mixed soil and muck, it’s going to be a less than aesthetic sight.
And the very long horizontal path still only has its pyjamas showing – the weedproof fabric. Typical; just when you tick one big thing off your list, you find a dozen more screaming for your attention.