Blue skies and apple blossoms.

I find it difficult to walk past this tree every day without pausing to appreciate it's true beauty and indeed the wonderment of mother nature herself. Every time the wife looks out the kitchen window I seem to be in the same spot, staring upwards with a look on my face reminiscent of a guy who has just seen his first pair of boobs ! It's no wonder I get so little done around the place.



For those interested the tree is called " John Downie " It's a flowering crab. And for the record the fruits are not too bad to taste, I must experiment with making some crab apple jam ..... sometime in the next few decades. I had found a use for the fruit which I thought was pure genius .... playing fetch with my trusty German Shepherd. However it all came to a messy end when the dog developed quite the affinity for these little apples and his binges would end in a lengthy dose of the scutters !! The shovel was always handed to me. I wasn't quite sure was it to clean up the pooh or bury the damn dog ! Anyway, long story short he still lives and so does the tree but just you wait until September .......

Tis very currant, you know..........

All the cool kids seem to be planting fruit bushes lately, so here I am trying to keep up with currant trends !!

I planted three new fruit bushes in this bed of imported lime free soil. A redcurrant " Red lake ", a blackcurrant " Ben lomond " and a blueberry " Goldtraube ". My only previous experience with berries is the strawberries I grew last year in hanging baskets. They yielded some nice fruits and I now have about sixty new plants to find homes for after successfully rooting the runners !! Any unsuspecting visitors seem to leave with strawberry plants whether they want them or not !

The birds will be the biggest threat to the crop so I will net these prior to fruiting time. If time permits maybe a proper fruit cage will be constructed. I'm looking forward to harvesting these, and the muffins and pies that herself has promised to cook will be surely temptation to plant some more.