Allotments 4 All

Just updating,  yesterday 1 potted on 4 plants , second  potting on, they are now in 1 gallon pots and in my greenhouse waiting for plant out time, so they are cosy and safe. The  rest have gone to my sons acreage, he has tons of room but no guaranteed way of isolating them. I am only growing this one so no problem here.

My fingers are still crossed but I feel pretty safe now.

I don't have a veggie garden as such, just my greenhouse and big pots so these plants are going in a flower patch, it is a long strip 30 feet maybe about 5feet wide and has things like snowdrops in it but lots of naked earth and it is in full sun.  It is the best I can do and I think they will be OK. Lots of room to ramble. I shall probably plant 2 at each end. I did think of planting in half wine barrels and then letting tumble over and  run free on the patch of land, not sure yet...they have to help me save them LOL

Had 1st small picking on Sunday.  Was down at the plot yesterday and noticed that it has started to come on strong now, so with current warmth hoping for next picking tonight or tomorrow.

And early! Nearly a week later mine has still not shown its head. But I shall look more carefully today.

I planted my rather withered Mayan Gold and Mayan Twilight yesterday. I'm wondering whether in future years it's worth giving some fridge space to over-wintering tubers of the two Mayan varieties as they seem to senesce sooner than most other kept seed potatoes. They always have carried on to produce though.
I have saved seed from Mayan Gold too but haven't yet tried it out. As it's an outbreeder I'm assuming it's unlikely to come true but on the other hand it's apparently quite difficult to cross a diploid with a tetraploid so I'm uncertain. It looks like I'm just in time to try it this year even though I thought I was at capacity!

I have a pond which is too big.
Any advice on how to make it smaller?
Obviously the plan is
a) take the water out and plants out store in buckets

b) put soil around the sides of the lining
c) add the water

My question is how can I calculate how much soil?  I am too be honest thinking about giving up.

Quote from: Deb P on April 02, 2025, 15:13:57To start I would take the protection surrounding them off and dig out the brambles that are competing with them and clear and weeds/ grass from the base. They look like quite large plants so will survive a decent pruning, but you might not get fruits this year.Wear gloves and cut out any dead branches first,(right to the base if necessary) then any branches that are crossing others or rubbing on another branch. Then cut branches that are showing signs of life back by at least a third in length, weak spindly ones can be cut right out completely. Aim to thin out the centre to let more light and air in. Lastly water them well then mulch the bushes with manure or compost. 

Thank you that is what I did apart from mulching which I will do soon.

To start I would take the protection surrounding them off and dig out the brambles that are competing with them and clear and weeds/ grass from the base. They look like quite large plants so will survive a decent pruning, but you might not get fruits this year.Wear gloves and cut out any dead branches first,(right to the base if necessary) then any branches that are crossing others or rubbing on another branch. Then cut branches that are showing signs of life back by at least a third in length, weak spindly ones can be cut right out completely. Aim to thin out the centre to let more light and air in. Lastly water them well then mulch the bushes with manure or compost. 

Quote from: JanG on March 26, 2025, 07:07:50Did the couch grass diminish the vigour of the autumn raspberries? Apart from neatness I'd be thinking that couch grass and raspberries might happily co-exist?

It decimated the raspberry canes. Raspberries have shallow roots and the couch entwined with it so badly it sucked all the moisture out of the soil to the detriment of the raspberries. I tried clearing it as best I could and heavily manured the soil but it was also infiltrated by more couch grass!

Congrats on the new plot, sounds like a great one! What's the soil like over there?

I'd be a little wary of putting bagged watercress straight in the pond, I've never tried it but without a root system I presume it wouldn't live and would rot down and cause oxygenation issues.

Remarkable longevity! Congrats on the harvest