Berrylicious!!

It’s been another hectic week, making the most of the gradually-lighter evenings to cram extra jobs in. We spent the weekend digging and weeding – two of the most monotonous jobs ever. We still haven’t got used to having proper flower beds so admittedly they’re pretty neglected. We decided to not clear the beds until warmer weather as we’ve heard that’s supposed to be good for insects, but it’s so much harder when all the spring flowers get in the way. It’s also pretty difficult to decide what’s a weed and what’s not, and what might be intentionally planted but has turned slightly invasive and needs removing (rye grass and a certain geranium in particular) – our Leafsnap app got a lot of use! 

We did manage to complete one of our major projects during the week that’s been in progress for a while now – our new fruit cage around our soft fruit bushes. Last year we were so excited to see our currant and raspberry bushes finally fruiting after they moved from pots to a proper bed – and it was only when we went to pick the redcurrants when we realised that (most likely) birds had stripped the bushes bare – so annoying! 

Our new fruit cage was supposed to be a bespoke size as it needed to fit over the existing bed and negotiate a raised drain cover at one end. We went for price over aesthetics so it does look slightly scaffoldy – but as long as it does the job, that’s fine! It wasn’t the easiest to put up in a confined space either, but we managed without having to redo too many bits. We did end up having to saw some of the metal poles to make the cage fit properly – so much for a bespoke size! And it was frustrating getting halfway through a stage and having to give up because it was too dark – it really felt like it was dragging on.  

The good news is we’ve managed to fit it in just in time, as the bushes are starting to bud. We may yet be lucky with some fruit this year!