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Getting things done - Raspberries
The vertigo has eased off a lot recently (fingers crossed) and I'm able to do a lot more. My wrist (that I hurt five or six weeks ago) is almost recovered and I'm finally starting to get back to that dimly recalled thing called 'reality'.
Massive backlog of jobs on the allotment, but I've managed to go down for a while every day for the last four days. My work capacity (measured in 'buckets of weeds' seems to be improving a little each day).
I've now weeded all round the beetroot and am starting round the leeks. Those leeks are seriously big, especially considering the skinny little things we dropped into the holes when we transplanted them. Definitely a testament to all the compost we dug in before transplanting them.
I've also started work on the summer fruiting raspberries.
If you have summer fruiting raspberries (defined as ones that have finished fruiting by now, in the south at any rate), then sometime during the next few months, you need to do the following:
1. Cut out all the canes that have borne fruit. Cut them right down to ground level (you can leave an inch or so if it makes the job easier, it won't do any harm)
2. Look at the canes that are left (the new ones that have grown up this year). Any that are weak and spindly, cut down to the ground. Leave the strongest canes only. The weak ones don't bear enough fruit to be worth it and they'll only take light/nutrients from the stronger canes that will bear the decent crop.
3. If any of your canes are more than four foot tall, then you're going to need to support them - otherwise, the poor things will only flop over when they start having the weight of fruit to support. The simplest way is to knock in a six/seven foot post at the end of each row, stretch some gardening wire between them at three and four feet (the height of the wires isn't a precise art. Look at your canes and pick a couple of heights that make sense for your plants.) Then use string to tie the canes to the wires. It will project them from blowing over in strong winds and also stop them going floppy and trying to grow sideways...
4. If you have a compost heap, spread the cut out canes across it in a loose lattice pattern and pile your weeds on top. The canes help maintain air pockets in the pile and also add carbon to balance the nitrogen in the weeds/grass clippings. If you have a compost 'dalek', then chop up the canes a bit to get them to fit in. Because canes are so weak, they rot a lot faster than most woody stuff, so I find them really handy in compost making.
Autumn fruiting raspberries are fruiting nicely now (yum!) and should keep going for some time. I'll cover what to do with those later on in the year.
Massive backlog of jobs on the allotment, but I've managed to go down for a while every day for the last four days. My work capacity (measured in 'buckets of weeds' seems to be improving a little each day).
I've now weeded all round the beetroot and am starting round the leeks. Those leeks are seriously big, especially considering the skinny little things we dropped into the holes when we transplanted them. Definitely a testament to all the compost we dug in before transplanting them.
I've also started work on the summer fruiting raspberries.
If you have summer fruiting raspberries (defined as ones that have finished fruiting by now, in the south at any rate), then sometime during the next few months, you need to do the following:
1. Cut out all the canes that have borne fruit. Cut them right down to ground level (you can leave an inch or so if it makes the job easier, it won't do any harm)
2. Look at the canes that are left (the new ones that have grown up this year). Any that are weak and spindly, cut down to the ground. Leave the strongest canes only. The weak ones don't bear enough fruit to be worth it and they'll only take light/nutrients from the stronger canes that will bear the decent crop.
3. If any of your canes are more than four foot tall, then you're going to need to support them - otherwise, the poor things will only flop over when they start having the weight of fruit to support. The simplest way is to knock in a six/seven foot post at the end of each row, stretch some gardening wire between them at three and four feet (the height of the wires isn't a precise art. Look at your canes and pick a couple of heights that make sense for your plants.) Then use string to tie the canes to the wires. It will project them from blowing over in strong winds and also stop them going floppy and trying to grow sideways...
4. If you have a compost heap, spread the cut out canes across it in a loose lattice pattern and pile your weeds on top. The canes help maintain air pockets in the pile and also add carbon to balance the nitrogen in the weeds/grass clippings. If you have a compost 'dalek', then chop up the canes a bit to get them to fit in. Because canes are so weak, they rot a lot faster than most woody stuff, so I find them really handy in compost making.
Autumn fruiting raspberries are fruiting nicely now (yum!) and should keep going for some time. I'll cover what to do with those later on in the year.
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We had a couple of four-layers-of-clothes mornings last week (and then beautiful warm fall afternoons), enough to make me think of planning ahead. I've never planted a winter cover crop before. Do you have any suggestions?
P.S. I've just book-marked http://watervole.livejournal.com/tag/allotment (don't know why I didn't do this a long time ago).
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Nothing says they have to be in straight lines - how about a spiral?
There's not much else. Spring greens and cabbages could be planted out, but that's about it.
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I was thinking that come summer, you could do what I do with sweetcorn, which looks much nicer than rows and gives great results. Remind me, come spring, to tell you the trick.