Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Hahahaha I can imagine how well it’ll go down if you’re caught trespassing private woodland down in Sussex if my land-owning grandad and his mates down there are anything to go by!!

I’m sure there’s plenty of lovely woodland that doesn’t result in someone’s dogsbody setting a Doberman on you....

*for the record I don’t really believe in the private ownership of land but such is life. As mentioned above tho it’s usually far better managed so tends to look ace.
I used to do hedgelaying and coppice work over Tring way somewhere for some poshos that owned a ton of land rover dealerships.
Beautiful land, properly managed using traditional techniques.
Sadly they were fucking pricks for lots of other reasons.

tbh I'm mostly curious as to whether it is this patch of woodland I rode through recently *– it was a bit weird but also pretty amazing, the bridleway was fenced in so most of the woodland was totally inaccessible. I have my issues with the way land ownership is often administrated, but I also definitely like to see the properly managed habitat from an appropriate distance

• Near Pulborough, east of Bedham I think
  

Northeast of Hastings so that's a no! It's not exactly mastiffs with loaded shotguns, but visitors are not encouraged. As there are no rights of way close to the boundaries it would be difficult to argue an innocent mistake.

There are many shooting estates around here (this is not one) where visitors are ACTIVELY discouraged, they tend to be the estates best managed for wildlife with incredible remnants of ancient forest.

Understood, from the picture alone it didn't look great, but makes more sense in context and given the earlier date.

I guess there's always gonna be some similarity with the shared geology along the Downs etc. looks v familiar but I've not been out that way

Plenty of bloodthirsty landowners round this side too, I'm not fool enough to climb fences no matter how nice the woodland on the other side

Can anyone point me in the direction of somewhere to get 2.5m high bamboo screening? Most places only sell up to 2m high and the few I've seen going up to 2.5m have been out of stock. Cheers

Can’t you just cut some down in the wild? There’s hillsides here full of the stuff.

Well I guess they had plenty at the zoo the other week.

Back to #realgardening 😜 - some progress on spuds, radishes and carrots

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We've had spuds poke their heads up today, our first are a blue variety so the leaves are quite hard to spot!

Has anyone had any asparagus start to show yet? I'm sure mine is normally up and about by this time of year and I am getting nervous that something has happened to them.

Also, long time readers may recall the saga of the planting of my apple tree, with a view to being espaliered.

This season, for the first time, I have some (two) blossoms on it. We may be in clover apples.

However and unfortunately, following some dubious online advice, I "topped" it by chopping off the main trunk, just above the first tier of espaliered branches. This was an error and I don't know if I will now ever get above a single tier.

Does anyone know if I can rescue the situation? Maybe by turning a branch into a leader or something?

Out in the far north west of London,
we were still experiencing overnight frosts into mid-April.

I would say our black Mulberry tree is a month behind last year.

Once it’s topped it’s topped, it’ll just grow wider from here on in.
How many lateral branches do you have currently?
I’d say your best bet is to train what you’ve got horizontally, side growth will eventually pop up and you can start training that upwards but you’re never gonna get a new leader...

Edit- just reread, if you’ve only got 2 branches maybe train those at 45° and any side shoots from them train both up and down. In my mind you might end up with a abstract fan shape in a few years time...

Yep, I thought so, I have two side branches, one going each way. So I can do some kind of candleabra off those, I think.

This is the guide I originally followed:

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-an-espalier-4707605

It definitely says that you should top it, grow a tier then let the trunk grow, rinse and repeat. Bastards.

OK, am guessing you now have two branches trained horizontally. Allow the bud nearest the original trunk to do its own thing this year, it will automatically form a new leader, prune the others which will attempt to head vertically as well. The pruned new growth will form the basis of your future fruiting spurs. Next winter prune the new leader, ensuring there are two buds beneath it to form your next espaliered pair of branches.

A challenger emerges.

It's all a bit of a merry mess at the moment, with some raspberries growing in and around it, which isn't helping.

I'll give it some considered care and attention soon.

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Making some shallow steps.

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Precision workmanship...

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I shall be forced to assassinate you, you're doing me out of a job. Don't forget to tilt them very slightly forwards to clear water.

4mm tilt back to front. Should be enough I hope.

Of course as and when I get the paths and patio replaced by York stone slabs, they'll all be ripped up anyway. That's a job I won't be doing myself.

asparagus start to show yet

Yes- have cut 4 stems, they were delicious.

Everything else is a few weeks behind normal it feels.

^ 6 in total now...

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