Due to the weather last month, we have had to reschedule the grafting session, planned for Sunday 10 February 2013, for a later date (to be arranged). The rootstock is not ready for Sunday. But we will be holding our maintenance session, including basic pruning of the apple trees. Watch this space or our Facebook page for the new date.

The January weather has had all sorts of effects on plants and wildlife – many plants that should be in garden centres are still in waterlogged fields, yields of root vegetables and brassicas are down. Don’t forget to feed the birds and provide fresh drinking/bathing water for them – unfrozen! I learned from the lovely Winterwatch programme that a small bird such as a wren can lose half its body weight just surviving a long cold night, so they need all the help they can get. Down in the orchard the bulbs under the cherry thicket are emerging, and there are tentative signs of Spring, but we have a long way to go yet. This is the time to prune your apple trees, while they are still in their Winter dormancy – come along this Sunday and we will give you a brief demonstration, and update you about the grafting session, which we will hold as soon as possible.