Photo Article from the Welsh Hovel: Mowing the orchard and filling the new compost pits

The ground is uneven in the new orchard I am creating at the Welsh Hovel. You may remember that two years ago this was a field with grass, ferns and nettles growing six foot tall. If you stood where the photo below was taken, you could not see the gate, fence and chicken shed which stood at the end of this field less than 80 yards away. So we will never have a smooth lawn for croquet, even if the accursed badgers were persuaded to bugger off.

However, I have started the first mow of the year. And the cuttings are starting to pile up in the new compost pit in the main vegetable garden. The good news from the orchard is that all 21 trees have survived the winter and all are budding quite aggressively. This year we will get at least some fruit from most of them although none of the trees have been in the ground for much more than a year.

You can see on the right of the top picture two old barns in an L shape, behind the main barn arrangement that creates the farmyard. Their days are numbered – work on taking them down commences later this month.