Fruitilicious for 2012

I have always had a bit of a love hate relationship with growing fruit I love it, it HATES me! In fact the first thing I ever grew myself was fruit, Raspberries to be exact in a large 40lt pot up a wigwam of bamboo canes. I had it for about 4 years in total but didn’t really get much from it fruit wise as I didn’t have a clue about growing then and didn’t have the first clue how to look after it. All in all I have had Raspberries, Gooseberries, and strawberries. It wasn’t until I started to get more involved in growing that I learned that fruit are a bit like female pop star Divas they constantly need your attention and TLC!
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.