Allotments 4 All

Hi all,I would really like to start a fruit bed on my lottie but have no idea where to start. The choice of fruit is so vast I,m confused as to how many of each to buy etc. and wen to plant them.Any advice from all you experts would be great  :)

First to think about is which fruits you eat the most and which are expensive to buy in the shops.  How big is your bed?  Also if you are usually away on hols say when summer raspberries fruit, you may go for autumn fruiting, or your choice of strawberries could be governed by when they fruit. Do you want to grow currants and which colour.  Is your bed in sun all day or partly shaded?


For say blackburrants 2 or 3 bushes would be fine, 12 strawberry plants as you can soon increase with runners, 2 or 3 gooseberries, 2 rhubarb (so you can 'force' one if you want) but all this really depends on which fruit you would like to grow most really, I could go on but if you suggest what you would like to grow you will get lots of help.

Good luck

T.

thanks Tulipa for your quick reply. I would def like raspberries and would go for the autumn fruiting. Blackcurrants,redcurrants and rhubarb.My bed is roughly 14ft by 4ft and in full sun.Is it the right time of year to be planting fruit ?

Normally fruit beds are best planted up in the autumn to spring when the plants are dormant.  There are a lot more plants/bushes available then, and cheaper when they are bareroot.  I planted a lot last winter- raspberries, red and black currants gooseberries, strawberries and rhubarb - I ordered in October and they arrived in early December as that was when they were ready.  I got them from here and they have all done very well:

http://www.blackmoor.co.uk/index.php

Jon who runs it is a poster on here.  Other useful nurseries that people on here have recommended are:

http://www.hedging.co.uk/acatalog/Index_Fruit_19.html  (Buckingham nurseries)

http://www.kenmuir.co.uk/

http://www.keepers-nursery.co.uk/

and my Marshmello strawberries from Marshalls:

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/rkmain.asp?PAGEID=42586#soft_fruit

Hope you find some useful info here and shout if you need any more help. :)

T.

thanks for all your kind info Tulipa much appreciated :)

I think Reads Nursery and Chris Bowers are worth adding....

http://www.readsnursery.co.uk/ (http://www.readsnursery.co.uk/)

http://www.chrisbowers.co.uk/ (http://www.chrisbowers.co.uk/)