A weekend of kitchen garden fruit trees

On Thursday we received a VERY exciting parcel from a friend who’s recently started up her own business and who we commissioned to make some new curtains for our dining room. We always wanted a cosier feel to the room, and so the light yellow and blue ones already there just weren’t right. We were up early on Friday to fit them before work and we’re so pleased. The new chocolate-brown colour is perfect, and the curtains are so thick the room feels warmer already! 

A dry (albeit freezing) day on Saturday gave us the opportunity to get outside and start one of our outdoor jobs. When we moved in, the nectarine tree in the kitchen garden had died, and so we’re very conscious of doing everything we can to keep our replacement trees (a peach and a nectarine) alive. So this weekend was more ‘fruit tree TLC’ work, starting with installing longer wires along the side of the shed ready to fan-train the trees. A crash-course in pruning and tying the branches over facetime (so useful having a gardener in the family!) and we were brave enough to cut it right back and hope we’d picked the right branches to keep!! 

We also set about building plastic covers for the trees to protect them against heavy rain and cold – although it took far longer than expected, as we had to keep going back inside to warm up (Saturday) and dry off (Sunday)!! It’s a little more complicated too when the ground slopes downwards… cue some hasty rescrewing when we got the first finished cover in place. By some amazing luck, the frame fits neatly under the roof and against the raised bed wood, giving it a better chance of survival in the winds. We didn’t get a chance to finish the second cover so, hoping it’s dry again next weekend! 

We ended the weekend planting our first seeds! The conservatory is still being repaired and has no roof so we’ve squeezed the trays onto the kitchen windowsill for now, as the warmest and lightest part of the house. It’s exciting to hope that we’ll get some seedlings popping up soon, now we have space to grow a few more plants. 

In the meantime, we’re making very little progress inside, with lights still to fit and a LOT of painting still to do. We’ve had electricians in this week to earth the light fittings on the first floor, so at least that’s another job done, and (with our new curtains) two rooms close to being finished. It’s hard to prioritise when there’s so much to do…