Despite a great weather spell for the past two weeks, the orchard work is progressing very slowly.
I am trying to set up the grass before the end of the month, and I am struggling with an important amount of roots, brambles and all sorts of weeds.
Not fun but I am getting there. After cutting down the "grass", I cover up the boggy soil with some top soil, then grass seeds and finally a thin layer of compost to feed the future grass.
At last, I saw today the grass peeking out of the soil. Not too much of it yet, but because of the good weather, this patch will be green very soon.
I didn't and couldn't remove all the roots, because I don't have a way to move heavy machinery over the ditch surrounding the orchard.
I am not too worry cutting the grass quite often the first year is usually a good method to stop the weeds.
In the polytunnel, the tomatoes have been all delicious, small Sungold orange variety.
Weeds are still a minor issue in the tunnel, difficult to remove all of them. Hoeing more often maybe will do the trick.
Finally I get rid of most of the tomato plants, after all the sun light is weaker and at this time of the year, you can't expect really much more tomoatoes. So time to remove all the plants and think ahead for the winter growth.
I mail ordered seeds from Klaus Laitenberger own collection.
I also ordered a fantastic propagation tray from Fruit Hill farm, highly recommended.
The main point is that its very sturdy and will last for few years, even if it's quite cheap.
So now that the grass patch is almost done, it's time to tackle the vegetables plot.
For that after clearing up the plot, I will spread green manure (ordered from Fruit Hill Farm).
This is a great way to suppress the weeds over winter. Then two weeks before planting a first lot of potatoes, I will have to cut all the manure and dig it down.
This will give essential nutrients and nitrogen to the future crop, and hopefully a more manageable soil!
