Mulching the orchard trees

This is not the time of year to be having a late night. We have to get up early to beat the heat and get the hefty work done.  So wise people should be outdoors and working hard by seven am.

Alas. My alarm didn’t go off until that happy hour and I didn’t burst out of the house.

I blame my rather late night jam making session. And it only yielded seven pots of apricot jam. But my, the flavour of the jam is quite divine.  Modest I know, but it’s a good batch.

I know it because I had a quarter of a jar to make up the eighth pot and it was devoured with some not quite fresh bread in an impersonation of a midnight feast.

Scrumptious.  I finished the last of the little pot for breakfast.

I had the ominous words ‘rake grass’ on my list today. So a bit later than planned I was out raking up the strimmed grass cuttings on the terrace below the pool and in the orchard.

At least this heat means the cut down grass is bone dry. So it is light as can be. And I had it whipped into tidy piles in no time.

Well, it took about an hour. And with the sun starting to blaze, the job went slower and slower.

Luckily I had my trusty little companion to assist in the bundling of the grass.

Here he is directing me where to place the mulch around the trees.

I didn’t have far to move the strimmed grass. I have thickly mulched each tree in the orchard and it looks quite neat.  I am using the Andrew Wilkie aesthetic square method of mulch stacking.  It looks so much more elegant than just piling it up any old way.

But it will need a good bit of rain to tamp down the stack.  There is absolutely no rain in the forecast. Just that blazing sun logo and the dread numbers 30Celsius on the page.

I know that as I have staggered inside to make a cup of tea and check. Indoor projects for a bit methinks.