Soft and Bush Fruit
All the fruit is magnificent, so far, this spring. The plum tree is flowering and already dropping its petals – my favourite, Victoria,(suitable for eating, for desserts and for preserves). My pear tree, which I almost killed last year is covered with flowers, (this tree, planted two years ago, was also covered with bloom last year at this time but, then failed to thrive. This surprised me as the other fruit trees in the same area were growing well. A neighbour pointed out to me that, perhaps, just maybe – the mint which surrounded the pear tree, was a metre high and very lush , might possibly be taking all the nutrients and water from the tree. Of course he was right but, what a shame to have to dig out all that wonderful mint – and the bees were loving it. Still, the pear tree came first. It did recover, just, and this year I will make sure the mint doesn’t make such an extravagant takeover manoeuvre. I am not any sort of expert on tree fruit having started with them only 2 years ago.
Strawberry plants, now tidied, have already got their flowers on. I have two beds (1 is now on its third year and will be dug out this autumn. The other is two years old this year and can stay for another year. I will plant another bed from runners in the autumn). I do prefer the fruit from the first year plants – they are usually huge and juicy though there are fewer of them. With each year, it seems they get smaller but, more plentiful. I plant my new runners in beds covered with porous woven matting – approx, 2 metres by 4 metres. This keeps the weeds under control and the strawberries out of the mud. To some extent it also keep slugs away as the area around the plants stays fairly dry. The disadvantage is that in years where there is not much rain, the ground can become quite dry but, even last year when there was little rain in the strawberry season, I still had an excellent crop – far too many for me to use(and they don’t freeze well). I don’t cover with net to keep birds off. I hate to see the birds caught under the net and there really are enough for them and for me. It does annoy me slightly that the blackbirds like to take a bite out of several fruits until they find the sweetest but.....!
Blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries have their flower-buds opening now. Although it is important that the bees get in to pollinate the flowers, you will need to keep an eye on these when they start to ripen. Birds will not share them with you. My experience has been that pigeons and blackbirds will strip the bushes before you have a chance to pick, so – do net them- the bushes, not the birds! Pigeons are really quite clever and can find a way into the most ‘secure’ of cages. However, much as I don’t really want to share these with the enormous flocks of greedy pigeons, neither do I want to see them being caught under netting they can’t escape from. Prey to cats and foxes – I love cats and foxes, I just don’t want to catch their lunch for them.
Many of my blackcurrant plants have ‘bigbud’. You can see these enlarged leafbuds in spring, which fail to develop into fruiting stems. When I took over my plot, a few years ago, I dutifully cut out all the branches showing ‘bigbud’ and burned them (it is caused by a mite/bug, which lives in the new shoot and prevents it from developing). A neighbour asked me what I was doing. When I explained, he laughed and said that, on the allotments, ‘bigbug’ was endemic. There was no point in trying to get rid of it. Since then, I just let the bushes ‘get on with it’. I might consider replacing a few of them with modern varieties which have bigger fruit – perhaps next winter. The smaller fruited varieties - about half of the bushes I've inherited - are a nuisance to harvest unless you are desperately keen on blackcurrants. My one redcurrant bush is a real star. I discovered it under 2 metres high, of briars when I took over the plot. It provides me with a bucketful of fruit each year. I have pruned half of it out each year. Last year, it was so overladen with fruit that a couple of large branches collapsed. However, it is a wonderful amazing bush. I am in the process of taking layered cuttings from it :o) I do however, give it a good mulching of well rotted manure each year,as with the other bush and cane fruit.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money building professional cages. I use tree posts hammered into the ground leaving about 1 and half metres above ground (it is helpful if you can actually get inside the ‘cage’ comfortably to harvest). Cover the tops of the posts with plastic bottles to prevent the posts cutting through the netting. Pin the net down with large ‘staples’ or pegs. Leave a largish hole high up for birds to escape but not suitable for access. And, hey! I don’t get it right all the time – I’m working on this. Last year, one of my cages was a mass of pale grey feathers when I arrived. I'm assuming that a fox found the same way in as a pigeon. No cat nor other bird could have produced the feathery devastation presented.
Raspberries – now this is a plant I am curious about! And I would be really, really happy for someone to enlighten me. The accepted practise, where I live, is for the previous year’s productive raspberry canes to be cut back to the ground, leaving about 3ins(6-7cm) above ground, either in the autumn or spring. It is understood that raspberries fruit on the new season’s canes – now appearing above ground. However, in my experience, last year’s canes will also fruit this year – the flower buds are now appearing on last year’s canes. They will produce a crop May/June, before the new canes start to crop. This extends the harvesting season from May to October (depending on your varieties). My plants are not suffering from this extra crop – the canes grow to 6ft ( 2 metres) or more and are very productive. I do cut the tops off the ‘old’ canes in the autumn - more for the sake of tidiness – to about 1 metre high. It really isn't necessary to 'cage' raspberries. Although birds may take a few, bigger threats are ants and woodlice - they will destroy the fruit and the ants will sting - very nasty!
If anyone can give me their thoughts on why they are cut back before their time, I would really like to hear it. Do give your raspberry canes a good mulch of manure each autumn. If they are not productive or have very small fruit, think about replacing them. New varieties are really quite superior. Try a mixture of summer and autumn fruiting.
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