Trees

My very generous Pops bought us four fruit trees, a plum, a pear, an apple and a cherry. We don't have room for four trees on our plot. Not if we want our vegetables and our soon-to-be-installed greenhouse to get any sun. So we decided to keep two and give two to Charlotte's friends Bruce and Lucy. We chose to keep the apple and the pear, because we thought the fruit would be less likely to be eaten by the birds. It's not like we can spray the birds with water from our kitchen window like Charlotte and Jon do! Do you think we made the right decision?

The trees were supposed to be kept immersed in water from the minute they arrived in the post until you put them into the ground. Unfortunately (I'm not sure this is the right word as fortune had nothing to do with it; we just didn't get round to it) this didn't happen to ours. Instead they spent two weeks sitting very dryly in Charlotte and Jon's hallway. I'm not sure how important this bad beginning is going to be for our poor fruit trees. Hopefully we can make up for it.

Yesterday I went and picked up the two trees. I took them to the allotment and left them sitting in water overnight. This morning I went back up and dug two holes, leaving plenty of room below and around the roots so they've got lots of room to grow. I chose the place where I thought they'd block out the least amount of sun for us and our neighbours: the northern edge of our plot, infront of a non-window part of next door's shed.

I sprinkled loads of fish blood and bone into the hole and onto the soil I was about to put back into the hole, filled in the hole, and watered each tree with about 8 litres of water. I tied a bamboo cane to each one to offer some support against the wind, but I'm not sure it'll be enough, we'll have to see. Apparently the trees need to be watered every other day. So far we've only been going to the allotment at the weekends. I really hope it rains this week or I might have to make a few trips after work. Don't want those trees going thirsty again.