One snowy Saturday in December Andy, I and Peggy the dog took a trip to the amazing new site of the Incredible Farm up at Lumbutts to purchase some lovely hardy fruit trees for the space at the back of our house.

If you have never heard of Incredible Farm, go and seek them out – they do good things! I am hoping to get back to volunteering there again, but I need to concentrate on our farm at the moment – so much to do, so little time.

We came home with 2 plums and 4 apple trees, and tucked them up snug and safe in my Polytunnel until the snow thawed. Just take a moment to admire the beautiful roots these trees have…

The trees we took home were:

• German Plum
• Oulin’s Golden Gauge
• Katy (Apple)
• Seek no Further (Apple)

Am hoping to get some Elder from cuttings locally, and perhaps pick up a cherry plum and really want to experiment with some Juniper too.

The following weekend (less snowy) I planted the trees out. I hope they like their new home. They were tucked up warm with blankets of Newspaper (a use for the Mail!) and straw.

What was exciting is that over the past 12 months I have been trying to improve the earth in this area, the soil was thin and there was no discernible life. When planting the trees, I found worms! Quite a few worms! My plan seems to be working.
The trees have been given rabbit protection. Fingers crossed in a few years we have an abundance of apples.

As well as fruit trees I have taking cuttings from my blackcurrants and redcurrants. I am hoping that this time next year I will have lots of young currant bushes to plant out. I love taking cuttings – it is very mystical. A “dead stick” is stuck in the ground and with time, roots form and shoots sprout forth and new life is formed.