Tidied Verge

We managed to get a couple of little jobs done this evening, in glorious weather. Liz weeded the gaps in the weed-suppressant membranes around the fruit trees (the slit where we fitted the membrane around the trunk, inevitably, gets some weeds growing), while I folded down the top of the chicken-wire cages that protect the plum trees. These are already at about the right height to start training in permanent laterals, but a couple of these have been damaged by rubbing against the cage: hence folding it down out of the way. That still leaves about 150cm of cage height to protect against deer.

Then Sigrid and I cut back the grass (and docks, nettles, and weeds) along the verge outside the house and hillside, which has needed doing for a while. I've delayed because the daffodil foliage is only just about gone—there's still some, which I tried to avoid. It's startling that there's still some showing in early July, but it's an obvious consequence of the delayed flowering. The verge now looks a lot better, which is good, because it was starting to irritate me, and some of it was making visibility poor when pulling out of the driveway.

It looks as though one of the blackcurrants has lost a lot of its fruit, which is a great shame. I fear it may be a lack of watering (it's never felt dry enough to need to irrigate the fruit, but I might have been mistaken): alternatives are a potash shortage, a pest (no idea what), or a cold spell shortly after fruit set (I don't remember one). So, I gave the fruit beds a good water, and I'll spread some food, as they're the two possible causes that I can affect.