Garden Bear's World - Grizzly's Orchard

 Hello everyone!  It's Endon Bear here, with an update on the garden and allotment I help my human guardians' to look after.  Spring is always a busy time of year, with plots to dig over, potatoes to plant and seeds to sow but, this year, we had a special extra job to do. 

 

At the end of March, Grizzly celebrated his 80th birthday.  Because there was still quite a lot of the nasty virus about, Polar hadn't booked a big party for him.  Instead, they had a  nice dinner at their favourite pub and planed a special holiday, which is happening next month.

Polar ordered eight new fruit trees too - one for each decade of Grizzly's life so far.  They arrived in a big cardboard box, wrapped in plastic to stop them drying out, and Polar had to put their root-balls to soak for several hours before we could plant them.

I helped Polar to dig some holes for them - not too close to the fence - and she collected some compost from the heap to dig into the soil at the bottom and around the planting holes.  Then we planted the trees and watered them in well, and Polar gave them a good prune to encourage them to grow well.

They are cordon trees, so grow straight up rather than making a spreading canopy, and can be planted close together.  This means there is plenty of room for more, so we can add one when Grizzly is 90 or 100, or put a row along the other side of the garden when Polar is 60.

Polar chose six apples and two pears, concentrating on varieties that are ready to eat later in the year and store well.  Hopefully, we will have fruit from the currant bushes as well this year.

Polar and I have been planting lots of flowers and vegetables since then, but I will tell you more about that in another Garden Bears' World another day.