The fruits arrive

Its been a busy winter, with large compost deliveries, infrastructure developments and website design all taking up time. As spring blooms, the attention has now finally progressed to planting, with the long awaited arrival of almost 2000 fruit bushes. Needless to say, the delivery date came to soon, and some extra pairs of hands were invaluable in keeping us on track.

After several weeks desperately trying to shift tonnes of compost and prepare the permanent beds, the fruit plants finally arrived. The delivery date of the 8th April had been etched into my brain for some time and provided me with a target date to get the farm in an acceptable situation to receive them. When I ordered the fruits last year I thought I would have time to spare but, as has been the case so many times in the past, it was an unrealistic target, and I ended up arriving at this juncture somewhat stressed and unprepared. Thankfully, the gradual easing of lock down restrictions enabled me to get some much needed support from my sister and her family, and the planting process ended up being a lovely experience, with everyone catching up, mucking in and getting nicely merry. We even managed a BBQ on top of the hill, washed down with nice beer as we watched the red kites squabble with the blackbirds above, and the hares dance across the field as the evening sun set. The challenge was to finish off the permanent beds, set up the temporary irrigation system, erect the trellising and plant:

• 1200 bare root strawberries

• 400 bare root raspberries

• 70 rhubarb crowns

• 60 potted blackberries

• 50 potted blueberries

• 10 potted honeyberries

I had spent months researching how to plant the various varieties – the spacing, the depth, hydrating the roots, tying in the canes, pruning the tops and so on. But, at the crucial point of planting, I still found myself scratching my head and logging back into YouTube. I have realised there is so much to learn and retain, and I just hope my depleted brain cells are up for the encyclopedic onslaught that’s to come. It's not boding well, as I still don’t know the mobile phone number I've had for 8 years, and I usually have to consult my wife when someone asks me how old I am.

Although most of the plants are now planted up and growing away, it took over two weeks for me to complete the task, although this included ongoing structural work, such as raised beds, trellising, irrigation and fencing – and all in between my ongoing work commitments. Everything is on such a big scale and tasks take so much longer than you could possibly budget for. However, now the plants are in place, I can really see the land wake up from a contented sleepy pasture, monopolised by the distinctive random mounds of the meadow ants, to a vibrant and bio-diverse community, now distinguishable by the linear and carefully measured structures of its human custodian. Not wanting to bully my way into this slice of paradise, I have agreed with the meadow ants that they can keep an acre of the western slope of the field, and maintain their symbiotic tenure with the land. In terms of my bit, although the farm is just getting started, I can really see the vision, and how beautiful this place is going to become.

Phase two is to continue constructing the raised flower beds, order in another 16 tonnes of compost, build the packing shed and erect a giant poly-tunnel. To assist with the financial outlays, we have decided to put one of the holiday lets (Glandwyryd) on the market. Although a tough decision, it's an inevitable and necessary one and, amongst other things, the sale will get the infrastructure of the farm fully set up and raring to go, and allow me more time to focus on the market garden, which is fast becoming the centre of this enterprise.