Dec. 24, 2024
Faber Forest - 24 December 2024
This morning was a big day for the forest. The first instalment of fruit trees arrived and I got them all in the ground in one go. I had 28 trees, 2 of each species of apples, pears, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots and cherries. I got 3 species of Apples Braeburn Hillwell, Golden Delicious and Queen Cox, and 2 species of all the other fruits.
I had pre-dug a few holes, but dug out the rest on the day, all in about 2 hours.
Seeing those fruits going in really starts to put the vision on the field, I can see the pattern coming together which is so exciting! The pictures don't quite do it justice as it's hard to see the sticks amongst all the grass and such.
I will go back to sprinkle on some compost and cover the ground beneath each tree with some burlap material to suppress weeds.
Next I bought a load of garlic and onion starts which I'm going to plant along the hedge line for some annual crops since the soil is already dug up, I'll probably cover it with burlap as well until the plants come up to protect it from frost and animals.
I'm starting to think about adding in a few pioneer trees i.e. fast growing like alders, poplars, birches and willows to create organic matter that I can chop and drop around the fruit trees to create a forest floor and suppress all the weeds and grass. The more trees I can get in the ground this season the better.
Excitement level high!
27 Dec
I went back today to tend a bit more to the new trees, I bought some compost and sprinkled some around each tree then put a burlap square around each one. The idea being to protect the loose soil from any digging animal e.g. rabbits, and maybe to insulate the soil a bit.
I also started planting the garlic bulbs, I got through about 40% of the bag. Each time I do something relatively bulk scale I need to figure out the most efficient method. For this I first flattened the soil a bit with my rotary tool then used a pickaxe to draw out lines to plant to the bulbs. Finally I covered the area with burlap to again protect it from diggers.
Exciting update: By popular opinion, I'm going to start video recording the progress. I think it'll make this whole thing come alive a bit more. It's hard to see things on photo from a distance. So look out for that in my next update! I'll probably host the videos on YouTube so its easy access.
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Charlotte Leysen
Hi there I'm Charlotte from London and I am a Millennial hobbiest. By that I mean I love making things, for both the process and the outcomes. On this blog I talk about all the things I'm working on and learning each week. On some projects I will go into a bit more detail on what I did and my experience through it.
Some facts about me:
- I am not a perfectionist, preferring to complete something than to attempt to make something flawless.
- I am in a constant cycle of building up inspiration, executing the ideas, then winding down to reflect and regenerate.
- I am interested in almost anything that can be made from scratch using nature / natural materials.
