I moved house about 6 years ago now and inherited a wonderful Cherry tree it was only 2 years old but to this day don’t know the variety but it was in the middle of the garden (don’t have a clue why!) so we dug it up and moved it again not really knowing what I was doing! It was touch and go for about 3 months and the following year we got nothing from it but WOW what a great harvest we get from it now. I have learnt what it needs and when it needs it.
So when I got the allotment last year I knew straight away that I wanted fruit and lots of it but also knew that I would wait for my second year before doing so which brings us to the now.
Strawberries were the exception, I have always grown
strawberries with little success the odd fruit here and there but nothing I
would call a harvest so I dug what I had at my home garden which was about 8
plants and re-located them at the plot I gave them a good starting bed and over
last summer they again didn’t provide much but I was more interested in them
reproducing so to speak I wanted my 8 to become 108 so left them to put out as
many runners as they wished! So in mid-December I dug them all up and
re-planted them in their permanent home I ended up with 68 plants in total now
and hope over the next few summers I may finally get a crop fingers crossed.
I also this year made a raspberry bed at the back of my
plot I used 6ft logs and wire to make a frame for them to grow up; I got 4
varieties covering the whole season they are:
·
Valentina · Tulameen
· Jona J
· Allgold
I also have a Tayberry bush which I am very much looking
forward to also added a gooseberry bush which hopefully won’t be destroyed by
sawfly like my last one! And 2 crowns of
Rhubarb and the Piers de Résistance a Dwarf Concorde Pear Tree and for only
£9.50! I still don’t understand why garden centres sell off deciduous trees and
shrubs in late autumn as they will be back stronger the following year there
loss is my gain! I LOVE pears they are such a treat to cook with and can go
sweet or savoury in fact I am salivating now as I type! All the fruit cost me in total under £20
which if you were to buy it all at normal price is over £100 my reclaimed
re-cycled or buy as a last resort was in full swing! On my allotment site we
are only allowed miniature or patio trees nothing over 6ft and when I started
looking back in the summer they were close to £40 which is still a hardly
nothing considering the bounty you can potentially get from it
All that’s left to do now is find the right spot
for my pear tree and Gooseberry bush give them the best start that I can and
hopefully 2012 will be my best EVER year for fruit.
