Grass cutting today

We had this year's first session of grass cutting at the Turnditch Orchard. Like my own hair it was definitely in need of a trim. So we wheeled out the trusty Hyundai Field Trimmer and set to work.  The two years of regular grass trimming is definitely reducing the number of major weeds as the grass can now dominate.

The machine earned its keep ploughing through the long grass and finishing plastered with grass cuttings.

A new sign on the gate

We've replaced the old sign on the gate post of the Turnditch orchard. The old one had a discontinued phone contact number and an old website name.

If you have a smart phone you may be able to find a secret hidden in the sign. (Hint: you won't be able to see it with your naked eye.)

Fruit blossom arriving at the orchard

I was in the orchard today checking the trees (and the signal on my new phone). Everything is looking good except for the young tree whose roots had been disturbed by a fox. I gave that one a big drink of river water to get its roots used to the new soil I'd put in place.

There was some nice apple blossom today on the trees: 

If memory serves right it is an Egremont Russet. The cherry tree blossom is beginning to fade, but it looks like we'll have a good crop of cherries this year, provided we get some netting on the tree to keep blackbirds and pigeons away.

Checking the new hedge

I paid a quick visit to the orchard today armed with a pair of  long arm shears. The objective was to trim the weeds away from the base of the hedging shrubs I planted last month. It took about an hour to complete the work as this can only be performed by hand. There's eighty shrubs to tend. I'm pleased to say they all appear to have taken after their bare root planting. A good set of leaves is appearing at the top of these plants.

Less healthy is one of the bare root apple trees I planted last December. The small whip apple tree is proving slow to sprout leaves. It was probably not helped this week when a fox dug up the roots to get at the bone meal I used when planting.

Saw for sale

Following the recent success of a major wood working project I've gained confidence in my abilities. I'm upgrading our tools to add a Dewalt Sliding compound  mitre saw for some ambitious projects. This leaves our existing saw redundant. It is an Ebauer ERB608MSW double bevel mitre saw 230V with a 254mm blade. It's in good working order and lightly used since we bought it two years ago. It is a good robust saw which I like, but is not a "sliding" mitre saw.   We're selling it, as seen, for £50 (inc VAT), Buyer collects/inspects at our place in Belper. Call 01332 895130 if interested.

Update: The saw was sold and collected within 3 hours of posting on Facebook.