Fruity

One of my current (currant) projects is the creation of an area for fruit in the small allotment, or Smallottment as it is affectionately known. 

I plan to make a frame out of willow so I can net the whole area and protect it from birds and other wayward virmin, which is a strong presence in the allotments. 

I had a green gooseberry in the long allotment that would bravely develop about 4 fruit each year, only to have them eaten by the wildlife before they were ripe.  There is an area at the side of the greenhouse which does have partial shade, so it was the ideal place to establish a fruit garden.  My soil is on the acidic side, so it is ideal. 

I checked by doing the vinegar and bicarb test, which is free, whereas the shop testing kits are extortionately expensive.  All you do is fill two small, preferably transparent containers with water and add vinegar to one and bicarb to another.  Then add a small quantity of your earth.  If you see bubbles fizzing off the earth in the one with bicarb you have acidic soil, and if you see them in the one with vinegar in you have alkaline soil.  The amount of bubbles is an indication of how acidic or alkaline it is.  Maybe not as accurate as the shop bought ones, but I like it all the more for that.

I transplanted the gooseberry successfully in the autumn, and just recently transplanted two redcurrants that were well developed suckers in my Dad's fruit cage.  This meant that I had to rethink the whole fruit area design, as I had to choose between the strawberry beds I had created there in the spring last year or currants.  The strawberries in these beds had experienced a similar lifestyle to the ones in the long allotment, as I salvaged them from the grave like raised beds that I inherited when I took the plot on.  They certainly softened the macabre look of the beds, but it was no place for a healthy strawberry.  They were compacted and wayward, so I brought them to order beside the greenhouse. 

However, currants need protection from wildlife more than strawberries in my experience.  It seems the chief consumers of strawberries in my plots are slugs and perhaps the occasional squirrel.  I'm going to experiment with a border of furry leaved plants around the bed, as this fur is spines to slugs.  I think woolly thyme would be the best, but I may have to resort to lambs ears while it develops.  Lambs ears work well but they spread voraciously. 

I felt rather bad as I put spade to earth yet again and gave some of the plants a temporary home in the wheelbarrow.  However, they will have a new home similar to the strawberry bed in the long allotment.  It will be in front of the greenhouse and will be divided by a cross so I can access the cold frame easily.  It will mean transplanting the chamomile I grew there last year, but I have a much better purpose for that; as a path in my herb area. 

I've had to leave the strawberries languishing in the barrow for a few days, because it has been horribly wet and at times snowy.  They look quite happy though.