{"id":24285,"date":"2026-04-17T20:23:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=24285"},"modified":"2026-04-17T20:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T18:44:33","slug":"sweet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/sweet\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet as a nut"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we Brits say when something goes exactly according to plan. I was somewhat fearful this morning because the work I had planned for today needed for me to replace the excavator’s bucket the right way round. This also meant, of course, that I’d need to replace the bucket securing pin that had previously been seized in its joint and given me so much trouble when I was removing it, and that I was not looking forward to.<\/p>\n

And sure enough it would not go back in. Each bucket (and the post auger) came with its own pair of pins so I then thought that as a last resort I’d try a pin from another bucket. And what do you know, it went in with almost no difficulty at all. So it appears that the problem isn’t serious after all. It’s just to do with slight variations in securing pin diameters, so I’ve informed the manufacturer and as well as asking for a replacement for the original pin, I’ve asked for a spare or two in case any of the others have also been manufactured on the big side.<\/p>\n

Having replaced the bucket I could get on with today’s tasks, starting with planting the new Reine de Reinettes apple tree in the hole that was left after I’d moved the original tree further down the garden. This didn’t need much work by the excavator. All I had to do was tidy up the hole, finishing off by hand with a shovel, and plant the new tree in the usual way. Here’s how it looked after I’d finished. I was very happy as the manual effort required was minimal.<\/p>\n

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Then it was time to move to the front of the house to dig a hole and plant the new Japanese Flowering Cherry. This time I’ve shown a bit more of what’s involved.<\/p>\n

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The main thing I’ve discovered is that as you might expect, the excavator is not designed to dig small diameter deep holes. OK, the minimum width of the hole is the width of the bucket (in this case 400 mm) but due to the action of the bucket, the length of the hole extends the deeper you dig and in this example was about 800mm. Even so, I know from experience that the manual effort involved in digging a hole like this in this soil is considerable.<\/p>\n

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That’s because there was another problem, as I remember too well from when I was digging holes manually in the front of the house (eg when I installed my post box). The ground is so rocky that you hit rocks the moment your shovel (or your excavator bucket) hits the surface. The little excavator had its problems but I more or less got down to the desired depth before I had to start tidying the hole up by hand. And not just by hand. Also by club hammer and chisel in order to smash the large rocks in the bottom of the hole into smaller pieces that could be removed.<\/p>\n

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But compared to digging the hole by hand, planting the little flowering cherry was a doddle and the final result was very acceptable. It’s always a good idea to separate the roots of any tree that’s been grown in a pot and when I did so for this one I found that the earth it had been grown in looked awful – almost like dirty sand. I cleaned it up but left enough on the roots before planting the little tree with plenty of special compost and back-filling with original soil with all of its large stones removed.<\/p>\n

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So here’s looking back on the tree planting work of the past couple of days, starting with the original tree that I transplanted two days ago. It looks to be coming along fine in its new position.<\/p>\n

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Now the new Reine de Renettes apple that replaced the tree I’d moved. It looks to be in good condition but I’d say is a year younger and therefore less full than the tree I’d moved and also the other Reine de Reinettes that I bought at the same time, which is doing famously. That’s it behind and to the right of the new tree in the next picture.<\/p>\n

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And now the little flowering cherry. To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed with it. From the pictures on the supplier’s web site, I thought it would be bigger and fuller. It’s also bent to one side and as can be seen in the picture, I’ve tried pulling two branches outwards using sticks banged into the ground and with a bit of luck over time they will give the required results. The problem is that I have to buy on the internet as with all the other things I’m dealing with I don’t have the time to troll around the local nurseries sourcing trees and shrubs, much as I’d like to.<\/p>\n

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The final thing I did today was attach sticky anti-ants and insects bands to the trunks of all of the trees in my garden. Ants can already be seen on the leaves of several trees so it’s not before time.<\/p>\n

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The manufacturer of the sticky bands also recommends attaching bands to any supporting sticks, which I’ve done for the stick supporting the new tree, as the ants are very clever and otherwise use the sticks as ladders and cross over to the trees above the sticky bands on the trunks. <\/p>\n

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I also intend to remove the barriers around the trees and cut the grass surrounding them. Grass voraciously sucks up water that the trees need to survive and prosper but I won’t be doing it for a day or so as I’ve ordered several 60cm mulch rings to place around the tree trunks that will prevent grass and weeds from growing and also feed water down to the tree roots.<\/p>\n

In fact there is now going to be a slight lull in activity, possibly save for me acquiring materials with which to construct the concrete base for my planned garden tool shed\/workshop. That and the next job I have planned will begin to involve me shifting much more earth, more than I’d ever care to have to move by hand. For that, therefore, I’m waiting for this to be delivered.<\/p>\n

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More later \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we Brits say when something goes exactly according to plan. I was somewhat fearful this morning because the work I had planned for today needed for me to replace the excavator’s bucket the right way round. This also meant, of course, that I’d need to replace the bucket securing pin that had previously been … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24285"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24311,"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24285\/revisions\/24311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.micro-trike.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}