It’s the small things that bring me joy. Seeing buds break out of the brown branches on the transplanted pear trees made me squeal with delight.

This year I will keep the trees well-watered as this soil seems to move from wet to dry in almost the blink of an eye. When I transplanted them, I mixed a bag of tree & shrub compost into each hole, hopefully that will help regulate water drainage and retention.

Double joy when I noticed the rhubarb transplants sending out several shoots and even unfurling leaves. They live!

There is a cubic metre of compost brewing which I will use to mulch this bed later in the year. In order to keep the stems red/pink, the soil Ph should be neutral – acidic soil will result in green stems and who enjoys khaki coloured deserts…

There’s no sign of life in the raspberry beds yet but maybe that’s just me being impatient – fingers crossed.