Plot 30

Some pictures and a video of me obtaining a some Bramley cooking apples using a special invention: a rusty blade attached to a fishing net attached to a plastic broom handle: Somewhat taller than me: In previous years I would harvest apples with the willing cooperation of my significantly lighter and more agile son, climbing into the upper reaches and tossing ripe specimens for me to catch. In his absence (preferring the company of video games these days, alas), I have given this contrivance a try.  It's actually very simple to use, and the apple normally falls in with one quick stab, though in this footage I am trying to hold the pole with one hand and film with the other, and so a couple of attempts were needed:

Some of the pods I saved which I kept in my greenhouse to dry out for a month or so, some of which I will plant straight into the ground in the autumn to over-winter, the rest I will save for next year... Update: see this post for how the Witkiem seedlings are doing in 2020.

Another Wilko cheapie 'Marian': 9 June 2019 Planted inside a rough and ready cage to prevent attack by birds etc: And in another spare bit of plot covered with some mesh: More updates shortly... 31 August 2019 And here are the ones in the cage some months later:

The results of our attempts a planting tulips, eventually deciding on dark / light variants to add some contrast. We chose the following bulbs from Marshalls seeds : National Velvet and Ivy Floradale:

Seeds bought cheaply from Wilko : "Hollow crown" 20 April 2019 I then dig over and water a section of plot, mix in well-rotted bone meal, manure etc and create a narrow trench in which to place the seeds: Updates to follow... 22 May 2019 Parsnip shoots beginning to appear, will need thinning at some point: 31 August 2019

Some photos of us setting out a raised bed area with the long term plan of getting asparagus from it.  And asparagus is very much a long term plan - as the Royal Horticultural Society advises on its excellent website , to not harvest within the first two years of harvesting.  This plot previously had some rather large rosemary bushes, curry plants and other herbs that were coming toward to the end of their natural lifespans, so these were dug up and burned, while the plot was thoroughly dug over (" double digging method ") with plenty of horse manure added, and left for several months. Digging the trench  We start by digging a trench (the date started was 1 March 2019) on the right side of the plot, and transport this soil elsewhere, some of which went into the wheelbarrow you see at the bottom right of the picture.  Into this trench we added more well-rotted horse manure, and worked this into the bottom of the trench.  At the far end of the plot there is a strip about a