Fruit trees are sprouting new leaves

A couple of shots below. One for the "Victoria" plum tree I have in a tub and the second for the "Jonagold" apple tree that is in an old paint pot.

This is the "Victoria" plum tree (hose pipe and car cleaning brush in the background)

This is the "jonagold" apple tree, This is being trained as an espalier and is still in a 15litre ex paint bucket. I think this year I will upgrade to a larger bucket of some design

Both showing signs of plenty of growth. I have added some bone and blood meal tonight to feed them

The weather in Wakefield today has been pleasant but a little cool

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Flowers in the Kitchen, up close and personal

Our lass has just got her self some macro extensions for her camera. She said I could have a play so here are some close up shots of flowers on our window sill.

Keeping with the season, a bunch of tulips and daffodils bring lots of cheer to our kitchen
 

 
 This is the tulip I wanted to zoom in on
 

This is a close up shot of the "anther" , I am very impressed with the detail

Next I got a little closer to a daffodil

Not such a good shot but not bad, the stigma

This shot is the petal

This last shot is the bottom of an apple. In the for is parts of the calyx and stamen and in the background is the skin of the apple.

In the Summer I want to take a few close up shots of a bee or two

The weather in Wakefield today is very very windy

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Winter duties

Happy New Year folks, first blog entry of 2011. Possibly one of few or many... time will tell.

Last few days I have tied up and pruned my apple tree "jonagold". It is still in the 15 litre ex paint bucket and doing well, I have put a new small piece of wood at the top and at the bottom and then tied in the branches, I also trimmed them back.

"Jonagold" is known for being a vigorous tree so it will need more trimming back during the year but hopefully the bucket size should constrain it to a large degree.

The mistake I made last year was leaving to many apples on that all eatable size but not as large as the apples could have been, so this year the apples were will be thinned out with more passion. I left around 20 on last year, this year there will be less left on

 

Last weekend I also planted up my garlic builds. I had them in the greenhouse and they were all starting to show green growth. These are the best of the ones I had grown myself last year.

 

This is a close up, its a beauty in my opinion.

The weather in Wakefield today is cold 5to10 degrees I estimate but fine.

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The garden is being raided !!!! even in Winter...

It is always nice to have visitors in the garden and that includes the squirrels that have recently been paying my bird feeders far to much attention.

 

I have tried to make it more difficult for the little beggars to get the bird feed but this one is sharper than the average bird feeder provider (me that is)

Success. What can I say. You can just see at the top of this shot that there is wire wrapped around the feeder and the hook, that's because these squirrels can unhook bird feeders so they smash on the ground!!! this feeder is a new one

I also left some apples on the tree to. only 5. They have got frozen.

 but some thing is eating them and I dont think it is the squirrels either

Thanks to Michelle my girl for the shots on EOS 450D (I think)

Weather in Wakefield today, very cold, frost on ground this morning (inside of car windscreen frozen) and fairly bright

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Spuds for dinner

This is a bit of a late post as I did this on Sunday....

Popped the bucket of spuds out, once the stalks had died off. There was 1.5kg of spuds washed.

Shortly later, they were peeled

Once cooked, they were on the plate

Here is home grown roasted parsnips and roasted beetroot from Dads garden. Roasted spuds and boiled spuds from the bucket. Frozen peas and beans. Smoked ham on the side. Gravy to be added shortly.


These are the new spuds put in for Christmas. This is the first time I have planted them for Christmas, so I am curious how they will fair. When frosts threaten, they will be put in an unheated greenhouse.

Apples look better than they are. They never got very large at all. I believe I left to many fruit on for a small tree to grow. Lesson learnt I hope. They taste good but still need a few more weeks to ripen fully.

Weather here in Wakefield, England today has been pleasant, brigth and quite warm. but nights are now quite cold. Last couple of evenings there has been heavy rain

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fruit salad

Havent posted for a while but here goes...

This is the Malus Jonagold apple tree. It is still in the 15litre ex paint pot and has 20plus apples on it and stands at no more than I guess 4 foot. I am very happy with it as long as the apples develop to full size, the soil is always moist and i have been feeding it bone, blood and fish meal

My grape vine is romping away (unknown variety), this is planted in an old flower bucket from a supermarket. It has 3 bunches on it that were nipped out earlier on in the year so there were not to many grapes in each bunch. I have also cleared away any foliage that covered the bunches so they get maximum exposure to sun. I am also growing two branches out. one on either side on to wires, which are hard to see here

2 bunches here

The raspberries have been doing very well this month. I have had loads of fruit from my bucket of rasps and the front garden, the plants are still yielding fruit

Happy gardening

Weather report - pleasant, sunny most of the day but not to hot ,Wakefield, England

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Garlic and strawberries not quite bread and butter

I have pulled my garlic up this evening. The cloves are not as large as  I would have liked them to be and I am slightly disappointed. I will select the largest and best and plant them again shortly. I have no idea what the variety is. Got them from the supermarket a couple of years ago, last year they got much larger than this. This year though they went in quite late

The Golden Delicious apple tree has had the small apples removed because it is the first year (it was bare rooted not so long ago). I know it is the right thing to do, but still a killer removing around 8 very small apples. Thanks Reg for the encouragement. I needed it

Committed the first serious raid on the strawberry patch this evening to. These are whats left after me and our lass had a strawberry ice cream milkshake and some. They are delicious. I have been nibbling at the odd strawberry in the patch now for days. The ones in the front garden got ripe first and the birds dont bother them as I believe it is near the road

Weather report - Really hot and but slightly over cast all day ,Wakefield, England . The word gorgeous would still describe it well

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Borage, bugle and other oddities

The Bugle (Ajuga Reptans) flowers have now dropped off but this appears to be the time went it starts to grow and quickly. It is spreading all over and in every direction. I should have moved it now as it is moving in to the strawberry path!!! but it does look nice. you can see strawberries to the right of this picture with red strawberries on and some raspberry leaves to the left side

The Borage seedling are growing to. They are partially shade by the rhubarb plant, the wall, the very small apple tree and a fern, but that doesnt seem to be stopping them at all. I dont think they will show flowers this year but hopefully next. If they keep getting larger, I will be transplanting them to near my bee hives as they are good bee plants

The bare rooted apples tree "Golden Delicious" that I bought not so long bank and planted at the front of the house has fruit on it!!! I am amazed. Purchased from Wilkinson for £5, good value. I know I need to remove these fruit but I dont really want to.

Weather report - Really hot and Sunny all day ,Wakefield, England . The gorgeous would describe it well

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Fruit trees are fruiting

The fruit trees are growing very well indeed and all have fruit on. The Malus Jonagold apple tree has approx 20 apples on. There was more apples but I have took some off so not to over load the tree

The Victoria plum tree has lots of plums on, and I have thinned some out. As I want to discourage biennial fruiting (not a great shot)

The Dennistons superb although had lots of flowers on has only about 6 plums on. but what is on there, are looking good

Weather report - Really hot and Sunny all day ,Wakefield, England


Of note, checked the beehive tonight with a Pro who will remain nameless. Essentially there was no brood (baby bees), oh shit! So the pro took my hive/colony away and will requeen her for me. I should have the hive back in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed

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Mildew on the apple tree and gooseberry bush

Mildew has appeared on my gooseberry bush "red dessert" and my apple tree "Malus Jonagold"

There are only a few leaves affected by it is still present

Weather report - warm sunny, Wakefield, England

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The North Wind blows

It has turned in to a very windy afternoon here in Yorkshire. Popped out with the camera this afternoon and found a couple of planters toppled over.Wisteria and Redcurrant

Found a little wild life in the garden to. Some baby spiders hanging around between a couple of dead plants

Also spotted lots of small apples on Malus Jonagold, they do look fantastic

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The trees are showing more potential for bearing fruit

Below is a shot of the "malus jonagold" apple tree starting to show young fruit which has set. The little tree is covered in small apples. I will have to nip a lot off otherwise non will amount to much

The "Denistons Superb" plum tree is also showing fruit. Not a great shot as the sun is extremely bright but you get the idea. There are not as many plums as apples but enough.

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Anyone for another Apple

About  a month or so back I bought another apple tree, the variety is Golden Delicious, it was bare rooted from Wilkinsons. I did not expect anything from it this at all. However it has come out in lovely blossom. If I get any small apples appearing I will nip most of them off though so the tree is not strained

I have some tomatoes in the greenhouse that are coming along nicely, not as good as they could have been but not doing bad. The variety is Gardeners Delight. A small sweet cherry tomato

My victoria Plum tree is having issues today and I am not quite sure what is wrong. It has been a very very hot day here in Yorkshire. Gorgeous is a word I would use to describe it. the leaves at the top of the tree have started to curl. I dont know if plums can get to much sun. The pot is moist as I have been watering the tree regularly in the pot

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Flowers, buds and fruit

A quick snap shot of what is flower in the garden...


Apple -Malus Jonagold

Ajuga Reptans

Chard Flower

Chives

Grape Flower

Passiflora flower

Victoria Plums

Raspberry - Glen Ample flower

Sorrel Flower

Alpine Strawberry

I look in to the garden and do not see many flowesr, but on closer inspection they are there all around. Which is great.

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