Gardeners tend to wander around looking down most of the time. There is nothing wrong with that. Most of what we are interested in is in the ground so our eyes are mostly diverted down the way.
The other day I was wrestling with a big root I came across when loosening some soil for planting. After playing tug-o-war, the root won and I ended up flying through the air and landed on my back in the grass.
I lay there for a few seconds not knowing whether to laugh or cry and then I noticed the leaves on the big lime tree were just about fully open, but not quite. It was a lovely sunny day and the contrast of the lime green of the leaves against the sunny blue sky was quite stunning. Don’t worry I’m not going all Wordsworth on you. Cloudless, sunny blue skies are something of a rarity round here.
So I went and got the camera, had a wander round the garden and took some pictures of the things above that we forget are there.
Cherry blossom
Apple blossom
- This gooseberry bush grows out of the top of the wall and we forget it is there until the fruit is ready to pick. From this one little bush we have had as much as 13lbs of gooseberry jam!
Dennis does his impression of Eddie the Eagle!
gardeningforlawyers 
Can I just ask how big is your garden and is it a walled garden.
The house is on a half-acre plot. It is part of a walled garden but not inside the wall. There is the “Big Hoose”, the stables, the gatehouse and we are down the back beside the old gardeners cottage and walled garden that used to serve the “estate”. Our house was built more recently on the site of the old greenhouse. This is why we are constantly digging up glass!
I was interested in following the progress of your fruit trees because the walled garden next door is full of apple, plum, pear and damson trees and we haven’t a clue what varieties most of them are!
We have just under an acre including the footprint of the house, cottage and ruined castle. We have lived here for just under five years. . It has been a very, very steep learning curve for me to take on the orchard and garden which both had been let go quite a lot. (We used to live in a flat…. lol…) I have made loads of mistakes in taming the garden. It was getting me down… all the weeding and more weeding….. So to monitor my progress I have started my blog….. hoping to find some like minded souls out there to give me friendly advice and cheer me on.
I am also for my sins (it came with the territory) the present secretary of The Newburgh Orchard Group
(see http://www.newburghorchards.org.uk ). So a lot of my focus over the 5 year period was on learning about fruit trees and I never got to grips with the rest of the garden. So don’t be afraid to make practical criticism if you spot me doing something silly. I really appreciated Mr Mac’s comment on my compost heap efforts.
Plums and greengages are the most easy to identify. Any pear trees in that orchard? My significant other is keen on identifying pear trees. Apple trees are harder to identify, but Andrew Lear the Apple Tree Man holds Apples day in Perth, Carse of Gowrie etc and across here in Fife. If you have any photos of the fruit or you take some later in the year just stick them up on your blog or come over to the Fruit Markets in Newburgh at the end of August. Cheers.