Bursting buds

Some of my fruit trees are beginning to burst into life. That makes it sound as if I have loads of trees, doesn't it? Actually I have the grand total of three and they are only little Minarettes! This one is the "Conference" pear:

This one is the "Scrumptious" apple:

And the "Victoria" plum hasn't stirred into life just yet, so I haven't photographed it.

This year I have gone to a lot of trouble to ensure that there is NO WAY that my fruit trees can complain of lack of nourishment. I have fed them over the last few weeks with pelleted chicken manure, Vitax slow-release plant food (the one specially for fruit trees), and then today some Growmore liquid general fertiliser. I will also be making a big effort to ensure that the trees get plenty of water in a couple of months' time when the fruit begins to set. I want the trees to look their best for the camera, and produce a crop that I can proudly write about. See what blogging has done to me!

This one is not a fruit tree, but it still looks like a bursting bud. Rhubarb...

Regrettably I don't have a lot of rhubarb either - just two crowns. I had three but one died before it got established. They are not in an ideal situation either, being sited in a place where the soil is fairly poor and which doesn't get enough sun, but I was determined to squeeze some in somewhere. I pride myself in having a very productive plot, even though it is pretty small, so sometimes I have perhaps been a bit over-ambitious.

Last week we had some lovely rhubarb, which we bought at a greengrocer's shop in that village New Alresford that I wrote about. It was massive. Just three stalks weighed-in at a total of 750g. Jane roasted it in the oven, covered with foil, with ginger, orange juice and orange zest. It was delicious - especially with some fresh custard. This will be a hard act to follow...