Mini Orchard and Paving Slabs

Mini Orchard and Paving Slabs

The nettles in the mini orchard are now chopped down. With a concerted effort, we managed to get them all done today, between me chopping them with the shears and OH pulling them out from their roots. They still need raking up and burning, but you can at least see there are trees in there now.

Before:

After:

I had planted eleven fruit trees about two years ago. Not all of them survived and we have six still growing. They appear to be two pears, two apples and two plum trees. The plum trees had loads of blossom on them before the gales a week or so ago; the wind blew it all off and I thought there was nothing on the trees apart from leaves. But looking closely today, there are a few small plums (about a quarter of an inch long) and there are also tiny apples on one of the apple trees.

One of the trees looks like two trees growing together. I think some suckers have developed on the root stock and are growing parallel to the main tree trunk. However, it is carrying leaves of a different colour. It looks very pretty, but I'm not sure if the suckers should be removed or not.

This is a random willow, growing on the edge of the orchard area. I have no idea how it got there, but I suspect someone dumped a branch they didn't want (it might have come from the recreation ground when the council removed a pile of trees and bushes). Anyway, as willow is prone to do, it rooted itself and even though I have chopped it down more than once, it is still growing strong.

When we had finished removing the nettles, we decided to see how far the path in front of the old greenhouse base went - if it was the full length of the greenhouse. The soil is about a foot deep and once again, riddled with nettles roots. This is just one small piece of the root system we are talking about; it forms dense matting in the soil and is really tough to dig through and get out:

I am pleased to report that the paving does indeed go the full length of the base. 

Before:

After:

And there are likewise paving slabs at the back of the orchard along the fence. Yes, I know - these still need clearing!