Allotments 4 All

Hi All,

I've been reading this site for a while and am now in need of some advice, so I thought I'd say hello.

I took over a reclaimed plot in the middle of last year and after seeing some tiny fruit bushes for £1.99 in Woolies thought I'd see how they grow. I've got a frame up for a 3m x 3m fruit cage and have planted 4 plants in some compost (Gooseberry, Tayberry, Redcurrant and Blackcurrant). I don't know now if I need to do anything else. I've seen some other plots where they've got a thick layer of manure down, but someone else told me that it'll do more harm than good if its not rotted down enough. Is a mulch other than manure the answer? Any advice gratefully received.

Hi Spanner and welcome,

expert I am not .....  but you seem to have done the right things so far.

Why do you feel you should be putting more compost on top of the fruit bushes ?

If it for 'feeding' the bushes, do not bother, the compost in your planting holes should be plenty to 'kick start' the plants into growth.

If it is to suppress weeds ?? then there are several approaches, depends how bad and/or persistent your weeds are:

Lay newspaper and cover with Compost, well rotted manure, Straw, grass cuttings or chipped Bark. Do not use 'new' woodchips, even if they are from a stable with Pooh and Pee mixed in, they must be stacked for a least 6 months (preferably 12 months) before using on or near crops, (young plants in particular) it is claimed that 'raw' manure 'scorches' and wood chips remove Nitrogen during their process of rotting down.

Appreciate not everyone has access to cheap straw, (in our part of the world a square bale of wheat straw costs 50 p direct from the Farmers) but it is wonderful stuff for weed control and for use on the paths between beds. Spread not less than 3 inches thick, when first wetted it stays where it is, with a bonus of slowly rotting down and aerating the soil.

Lay black plastic or weed suppressing sheet around the plants, hold in place with little piles of soil, bricks, stones, old timber or any of the above.

Hope some of this helps you .... I am sure there will be other advice coming your way  ;D

Mikey

This is how I grow mine;

Gooseberry; http://tinyurl.com/25emzb

Tayberry; http://tinyurl.com/y5easm

Currants; http://tinyurl.com/38k9fh

Welcome to the forum. The one thing I did wrong when I started with fruit, was to plant too closely together, and ended up having to move large congested plants, so don't make the same mistake. I don't think more manure would hurt, as long as it isn't still steaming hot, so to speak, but doubt if it would do a lot this year at least.
The blackcurrant will take up a 5 - 6 ft diameter circle, so allow for this. Plant it a little deeper than it has been grown at to start with in the nursery. You don’t need to prune for at least a couple of years. They fruit on the stems that are over a year old, but also fruit best on stems that aren’t too old, so you need to keep a supply of fresh stems coming up right from the base, at soil level. What I do, is at the end of the third year, say, cut a third of the stems, the oldest ones right down to the ground in February on a fine day. Then the same each year, that way 2/3 of the bush is fruiting each year and one third is new stems.
Redcurrants and gooseberries are treated differently to blackcurrants â€" they tend to be grown on a short trunk, almost in the shape of a wineglass. They fruit on tiny spurs on wood that is older than one year too, but you encourage a more permanent structure of branches. I would prune it in the first year, late summer or early autumn, and would cut out any central stem to just above a bud, this is to clear away stems that would grow to fill the centre of the “wineglass”. Any outer stems that are growing around the edge of this central gap can be left alone for the moment.
In the second year, in early spring, I prune these outer stems by half to just above an outward facing bud. This is to encourage those stems to grow longer to form the wineglass shape. In autumn, again I remove any stems that grow in the centre.
The third year, repeat the process of pruning any new outer stems by half, but leave previously pruned outer stems alone. In autumn, trim back these outer stems by just a quarter or less. Remove any central stems as before. In following years, you really just repeat the third year pattern. They will take upa 3 â€" 4 ft diameter circle for each bush.
Tayberry fruits on long trailing stems that are a year old, and can occupy around 10 â€" 15 ft of space on your cage. The stems that grow long this year will fruit next year. After they fruit, cut them down to the ground, but leave any new stems that have grown during the year, as they will fruit the next year. It is useful to have the new and old stems trained separately, then you know which ones to cut and it keeps things tidy. Here is a picture.

Thanks for all the advice. Much appreciated and cleared up a few things I wasn't sure about. Am going to continue with a bit more confidence that I'm not doing everything wrong!

When you have got going don't get a Jostaberry!!! they grow to about 8' in every direction and propagate like weeds.... I bought one, have set about thirty over the years... they are taking over the site!
;D

Hello Saddad,

I have inherited a few jostaberries on my plot. Do they crop well?

cj :)

Quote from: saddad on March 30, 2007, 19:54:09
When you have got going don't get a Jostaberry!!! ... ;D

Oh, saddad, sacrilege - but they ARE vigorous aren't they  ;D - and none of the problems associated with blackcurrant or gooseberry!