Out in the garden

Well, at last, what after seems like weeks of rain every single day I have been able to get out in the garden for a couple of days. It's far to early to be able to plant anything or even for that turn over the ground but it has given me chance to decide what area I'm going to use this year. As we only moved here 5 Months ago and have only put in fruit up to now I have plenty of scope (and free ground ) so the danger will be taking on too much in the first year.

What I have been able to get back on with is the topping of my fir trees, I say topping in a loose way, with my tongue  firmly in my cheek, as I'm taking off around 10 metres or so, and I'm sure the one I took down yesterday weighed around half a ton!
However I can now start to see some real progress as I am about a third of the way through the job.

Tree Lopping

Of course the more trees I trim the bigger my woodpile grows, It pales into insignificance compared to my French neighboughs, who like most who live in or near the countryside,here in Brittany seem to have a stockpile that would last a hundred years. But it is growing and if nothing else it shows I'm trying to "fit in".

They will need to season for at least a couple of years but the likelihood of us installing a wood-burner grows stronger by the day.

Wood Pile

Of course the really big advantage  and the reason I started in the first place is the amount of extra sunshine and light I will get at the back of the house, although they are well away from the house, the sun dips down under them in the evening and this should extend that by around a couple of hours in the Summer.