Apple tree pruning, spring flowers and a Cheese tasting and farm tour

Now that the gardens are tidy (for now) and the sales area is filled up and we are open its all about getting the stock beds tidied but also in amongst that is helping customers, keeping the sales area stocked up and annual jobs like winter pruning the apples trees in the orchard. At last we are having a few days of dry weather and on Wednesday I spent the morning with Isabel and Pippa who is volunteering with us going over the principals of apple tree pruning and then working through all the trees in the orchard, one by one. 

After the pruning was finished Isabel placed and planted some wildflowers to supplement what is already there in the orchard. I am working towards this being our new meadow, it will take a few years to establish, but you have to start somewhere.

Looking good in the nursery gardens this week

The weekend weather was sunny yay! It was a great chance to visit and enjoy a wander around the nursery gardens enjoying all these fabulous plants, soaking up the sun on one of our benches, spotting the frog spawn and remember most of the plants you see are available to buy too. Just ask if you can't find anything.

Cardamine pentaphylla

Anemone nemorosa 'Viridiflora'

Prunus cerasifera  pissardi 'Nigra'

Prunus 'Kursar'

Sometimes it can seem an impossible task to have any impact on helping the environment and our world recover from pollution and the weight of a huge population. One way all of us can help is by creating a garden, big or small. Where we can create habitat for pollinators, insects, amphibians, small mammals, where there is room for plants to breath, clean the air, to grow healthy food, for us to relax and take time out. For the world's well being and ours a garden is an important space, for so many reasons

The more green spaces and gardens we create the healthier we and the environment will be physically, emotionally and mentally. Recycling, using compost that is kinder to the environment, being careful with water usage, using less plastic and so much more really makes a difference if we all do a little or a lot, it all adds up

You can read more in my blog here Our enviroment and recycling policies

Another busy week working away but most definitely enjoying the much warmer sunny weather. How good was it to see all that blue sky! Truly spring days with warmth in the air, the sun and birds singing in the hedgerow.

Isabel has been working away in the grass stock beds, tidying and potting, they are looking much smarter and I am working my way through T’s at the other end. We are bringing new plants out of the polytunnels and potting them into the stock beds every day as we work along the beds.

Fiona filled up the alpine table on Saturday, so they are now out for sale, an ever changing selection as we go through the year. She also got more perennial seeds sown, this time the packets of large quantities gathered from the nursery gardens last autumn. These have been sown into seed trays and will sit outside on tables until they germinate. We also went through pots of seed sown over a year ago and threw out any that had no signs of life, the ones with seedlings Fiona started potting up and they’ve gone into tunnel 3 to root through.

Its lovely to take some time to walk around the gardens, every day another plant has come into flower and others are leafing up, almost over night it feels with some of them. The frogspawn continues to appear and there is always a flurry of activity in the pond as we approach.

On Saturday we had our propagation workshop which was well attended, thank you to everyone who came along. David continues to re-write faded signs and labels, as you know if you’ve visited, information boards and labels are very important, helping us spread our knowledge and love of plants to all our customers so its important they are easy to read. He has also started this year’s big project – updating and streamlining our watering system, making it more efficient and easier to use, very important in the ever changing climate.

Come and visit and see what we are doing, growing our plants here on site, providing valuable habitat for all our bug and beastie neighbours, helping customers choose theright plants for their gardens and providing a beautiful inspiring space to visit.

Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

I’ve also been getting caught up on blog writing, so you have two here to catch up on:

March is Marching on through all the weathers

Finally we are open for our 2026 season

A relaxing day at home cooking lunch for Andrew and Linda visiting, it was lovely to have a leisurely lunch and catch up over a glass of wine or two. The menu was a cucumber, chilli and poppy seed starter, followed by herby roast chicken with mashed roasted squash and parsnip topped with crispy fried onions and crispy kale. Dessert was a raspberry and semolina tart with cream and viola flowers from the garden. I’m enjoying the one amaryllis that has come into flower with its large showy flowers. We got my new picture hung, another coastal picture to add to the seas scape collection in our gallery. I found it in the re-use hub at whitmuir earlier in the week and decided if it was still there on Sunday then it was meant for me. We also have our first family wedding in the summer, an exciting busy year ahead

For his birthday last year David got the gift of a cheese tasting and farm tour at Errington Cheese from Jamie and Natasha. Today we did the tour which was really interesting and learn the story behind the cheese we often buy. It was strange to be back there because we used to rent a house after leaving Easter Mosshat 12 years ago half a mile down the road and walk past the farm all the time. A chance to try three different cheeses and how they are made and what makes them different and then a tour of the farm to meet the goats and sheep that produce the milk for the cheese and learn the process of the cheese making from the feeding of the animals, to the milking to the cheese production. We then went off to their café Errington Barn on the A702 on the way home for a lovely lunch. Its been a proper relaxing two days off at last, back to work to do another crazy busy week

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