Billy Young's Blog - Posts Tagged "gooseberries"
8th June 2012
It has been slow at work this week. Mind I have only been working a three day week given that I had a long weekend last week. Still the three days I have been have been long ones. I suppose it is to be expected after five days relaxing.
There was a meeting at work this week with some unhappy news at least for some. Our holidays have been changed to accommodate changes to the business. It’s a way of saying that due to expected increases to orders later in the year they want us to take three weeks holiday in the summer and give up our holiday in October. I’m alright with it because if it secures that I keep working then all is good. Some of my work-mates don’t like the idea and voiced their dissatisfaction at the changes. I understand why they feel like that as it means that after the September weekend we wouldn’t have another day off until Christmas. That combined with the dark mornings will make it a very wearying few months. Still as I said if it’s good for the company then it can only be good for me in the scheme of things.
My strawberries will need weeding again tomorrow. It will give me a chance to check to see how the fruits are developing. None are ready yet that mush I know but I have seen some growing out of the flowers already, casting their petals as they do. I’ll also see how my apple and gooseberries are doing. The gooseberries were looking good the other day when I was having a look. It will be a few weeks though till their ready for picking but they are starting to fatten up nicely. Though this year isn’t as good as last year’s crop in the amount on the bush, sadly. I think that is due to the colder spring that we had though it doesn’t seem to have affected the apples as much. I’m looking forward to a good crop come autumn.
There was a meeting at work this week with some unhappy news at least for some. Our holidays have been changed to accommodate changes to the business. It’s a way of saying that due to expected increases to orders later in the year they want us to take three weeks holiday in the summer and give up our holiday in October. I’m alright with it because if it secures that I keep working then all is good. Some of my work-mates don’t like the idea and voiced their dissatisfaction at the changes. I understand why they feel like that as it means that after the September weekend we wouldn’t have another day off until Christmas. That combined with the dark mornings will make it a very wearying few months. Still as I said if it’s good for the company then it can only be good for me in the scheme of things.
My strawberries will need weeding again tomorrow. It will give me a chance to check to see how the fruits are developing. None are ready yet that mush I know but I have seen some growing out of the flowers already, casting their petals as they do. I’ll also see how my apple and gooseberries are doing. The gooseberries were looking good the other day when I was having a look. It will be a few weeks though till their ready for picking but they are starting to fatten up nicely. Though this year isn’t as good as last year’s crop in the amount on the bush, sadly. I think that is due to the colder spring that we had though it doesn’t seem to have affected the apples as much. I’m looking forward to a good crop come autumn.
7th August 2015
Just been out doing the garden. With all the rain through the past month there hasn't been much of a chance to do the garden. While out cutting the hedges and grass I took the opportunity to mix some food for the potatoes and tomatoes. The tomatoes have been a surprise to me as I didn't think they would do well with the cold wet weather we got this year. But they are about to flower so I thought I should give them a good feed and now hope they produce some nice fruit for Magz. I also sprayed my apple tree with anti fungal stuff. As you will know from past years it has fungal problems which is really bad in the wetter years as it has been. Still I have sprayed a few times already this year for that reason and it has had an effect so we should get some eating apples from it. I have also been planning how much pruning the cooking apple tree will need after the fruiting season. It has need some more tying back even though I thought I had pruned it hard last year. Of course I didn't want to over do it but now it looks like maybe I should have been tougher on it. While tying it back though I found two more cherries that were hiding. Magz enjoyed them as they were extra juicy. as well as having a bit longer to ripen. I also got one strawberry, the only one this year. Sadly neither Magz or Tammy wanted it as it looked like something had a little nibble at it. And talking of nibbling my gooseberry bush under attack from sawfly so I also sprayed that. Magz was the one that spotted the green caterpillars. I was around the front when she came round in a panic over what she had seen. I just got out the trusty spray and hope that will deal with them. Though I suspect it will take a few more sprays to be sure followed with more spraying from now on.
