A Trip To Common Farm

On Saturday morning at 6am we set of for the wilds of Somerset and the wonderful Common Farm, to give a workshop on Orchard Management. As we drove towards Stonehenge the sun began to climb and it became apparent just how hard the frost had been the previous night. Wiltshire was covered in a sheet of sparkling white and looked magical.
Arriving at Common Farm is always like arriving home-big hugs and tea and chat and then the realisation that actually this wasnt a social visit. Fabrizio and I walked the 7 acres of Common Farm, looking at the amazing old fruit trees and all the new ones that he has been so busy planting, and then the crew who were joining us began to arrive.
Before lunch we talked about pruning, pruned some of the younger of Common Farms trees and discussed with people how a fruit tree should look and why. The concept that people hopefully left with is that the tree should be open enough to throw a hat through, which Fabrizio demonstrated with great aplomb.
Then we had lunch which was an amazing mutton stew, the recipe for which is on the blog at www.commonfarmflowers.com along with amazing local cheeses and a cheese and onion tart and Georgies world renowned buns.
After lunch we talked about training fruit and planted and began to train a 20m wall of John Downie crab apples into beautiful espaliers. And the lesson I hope everyone took from this is that the secret of success when it comes to training fruit is that you must be in charge of it, not it in charge of you!

Malus John Downie in flower

Malus John Downie in fruit

Finally we burnt a wicker man and had a small wassailling session in the orchard which was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.

For more information about courses and workshops at Common Farm please visit their website at www.commonfarmflowers.com

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Is Spring nearly Sprung

So the last couple of weeks have been so busy that feet have barely been on the floor. The most exciting thing for The Physic Garden was that the greenhouse that Kristis lovely Bruce bought for their garden is up,glassed and full of plants and seedlings, which will hopefully soon be poking their little heads through at us. The Pelargoniums are in there too and hopefully soon we will be taking cuttings of them ready for summer sale. They are such lovely plants with amazing scent which we love as they really scent the room they are in.We have plants with scents ranging from clean,crisp citrus to spicy, deep and sensual and with small,delicate leaves to big,furry ones, so there really is something for everyone and thy exclude the need for chemical room scents!

On a totally different note I would like to advise everyone to read Lia Leendertz Midnight Ramblings blog this week-its a concise and to the point comment on the state of the Middle East today and our dependancy on their oil. Its an important comment for everyone but is really critical to anyone interested in gardens and plants.
Our reliance on oil doesnt begin and end with transport or food production. Horticulture can be as oil dependant as either of these things. Pots are manufactured with oil, as are chemical fertilizers and plants are transported all over the world. Plants bought in Holland, Italy or elsewhere in Europe, have often been grown much further afield, using massive quantities of chemical fertilizer, fungicides and insecticides, many Of which we no longer use here due to fear for human health. But this cannot go on for ever and it is great to see that some independant nurseries are now trying to stock plants sourced and grown in the UK.
An important point to remember is that it took the earth 200million years to create its finite quantity of oil and it is estimated that it will take us 200 years to use it up. A scary reality.
On a less sober note, surely Spring is nearly here! I am desperate to get down onto the allotment and get some stuff in to the soil. As it is every time we set off to spend time there it starts to rain or we get there and its so sodden it takes all my time just to keep on two feet. In fact Kristi and I were there a week or so ago and I had such a spectacular fall that I kin of wish we had put a video of it on UTube!! So next weekend my aim is to sow parsnips, shallot sets, early carrots, Brusssel Sprouts and some lettuce to start us off for the season. Oh, and I need to do some work in the garden too but yet again its raining. I can feel a panic rising, but lets try to keep it in perspective!!
I also have joined the Blotanical site this week so would like to say Hi to anyone who has found me on that...I hope you enjoy!!!

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