Them in the know suggest that the sensible thing, when you acquire a new garden, is to leave it be for a year and see what is there. To which I add the caveat unless you want to plant stuff (and of course one has to weed and prune and chop stuff back). Well, we have been here since the beginning of July: I have dutifully noted what is there* and not messed with it too much**, but unless the scrubby bit of bed by the back fence is a secret winter wonderland, as yet unrevealed, I feel quite safe ploughing it all up to put in apples. We know we need apples and if we leave it a year, that’s another whole year before we can start picking them.

So I started with this…

…and have cleared half of it. No signs of gorgeous wintery things to come: I unearthed a (very) few bulbs that I have put back to bed for the spring, although the baby did trample them a bit first. Mostly I have pulled out bucket after bucket of marigold seedlings, and one particularly vicious thorny rose. (Given its odd location and lack of congruity with the rest of the garden, I was little nervous it might be marking the last resting place of a beloved family pet. But nothing there, luckily, apart from a small brown toad.)

Tomorrow, fingers crossed, I am going to tackle the other half then I think we can fit in about 10 trees, as cordons! My dad put some supporting wires up when he was here last weekend so I just need to attach bamboo supports, source some trees, and bob’s your uncle.

* I have taken loads of photos, which one day I might get around to sharing.
** Apart from ripping out a particularly civic yellow-flowered shrubby thing that was situated in vile conjunction with scrubby red roses; the roses remain – for now – but the nasty yellow thing has been replaced with a lovely buddleia.

You need the lovely Montezuma‘s dark chocolate with orange and geranium; about 1/4 – 1/3 of a bar per person. Break it up a bit and put it in a nice little bowl. Add a dollop of butter (bigger than a knob; not quite a slice), some double cream and some agave syrup and whack it in the microwave for 45 seconds or so. Mix it around with a fork and pour onto vanilla icecream.

(If you really must, you can keep it in the fridge and re-microwave it the next day.)