Last chance fruit

[Sara]

Here in the GYO offices we're avoiding the tinsel and cracking straight on with our first spring issue – March is the last chance for getting those bare-root canes and trees in the ground.

Have you already planned your fruit harvest for next year? GYO's on the look out for your favourite fruit growing tips. So, if you have a fool-proof method for early strawberries or really know your currants, please let us know!



Your comments may be edited and published in GYO's March issue.

[Alison]

I know you're working on the March edition but as it's only December then it's way off the last chance for bare rooted trees etc in the ground.

[veggiechicken]

I save money on soft fruit plants by growing my own from cuttings. Any healthy shoots that are pruned during the autumn and winter are stuck in a nursery bed, about two-thirds into the soil, and left to their own devices. This spring, I will be moving the best cuttings from last winter into their permanent positions in the fruit garden. I've propagated black, white and red currants, gooseberries, worcesterberries and jostaberries in this way.

[planetologist]

I know that there are loads of fruit calendars out there, but I made another one, and if there's one thing that it shows is that the way to have 11 months a year of "fresh" fruit is to plant a vigorous apple tree that produces apples that store well. The 12th month, May, I only manage on bottled fruit, though I've seen a small scale commercial grower who fill that gap by having a polytunnel with strawberries.
http://lgmacweb.env.uea.ac.uk/green_...s/LCCfruit.pdf

I put fresh in quotation marks because in March and April my apples start to get too sweet for my taste and half of the ones that are left go off.

[solway cropper]

This year I picked my first fresh strawberries on 2nd May from two hanging baskets in the greenhouse. They were planted up the previous autumn and fed with tomato feed once the flowers had set fruit.

Next year more hanging baskets will be going up. The nice thing is the strawbs are finished before the tomato plants get too tall so it helps to maximize the use I get from the greenhouse.

[Aberdeenplotter]

On my plot, I have raspberries - Glen Ample, blackcurrants - Ben Conon, gooseberries - Invicta, redcurrants - unknown variety, strawberries - various and a couple of fairly young apple trees bought unlabled from Lidl as well as a number of blueberry bushes. I also propagate new plants from prunings but usually give them away as it isn't often that fruit bushes need to be replaced.

I have several different varieties of strawberries that mature at different times so that allows me to crop over a fairly wide period. I have tried growing them in a large strawberry tub but that wasn't a success and the plants would have needed to be replaced if I had repeated that exercise.

The blue berries are now five years old and this is the first year that there has been anything like a satisfactory crop. They need a long long time to settle in so patience is the name of the game with them.

[VirginVegGrower]

I have just planted a double row of Autumn fruiting raspberries to accompany my already established half row of both Summer and Autumn. I have also put in a new fruit bed of currants and strawberries, taken from my runners at home. I am planning a step over apple hedge along one side of the allotment when the fruit bargains appear in the shops.
My only fruit wish this year is to purchase and plant something a little bit different, such as a cloudberry.

If it's March tips you are after, how about a feed, some weeding and a mulch around your raspberry canes and planted trees?! Also when planting bare root fruit trees, I was advised not to add compost to the planting hole but to add Mycorrhizal Fungi as this helps the tree to put out it's roots further.

[northepaul]

Fruit is an investment I think. We have spent alot this year, as we have just got our allotments.

We have just planted out 5 apple trees, 1 pear tree, 1 cherry 2 cranberries, and 4 blueberries!!

We already have a mature apple tree on one allotment, and 2 more small ones, and a quince on the other one. We have red and black currants, a grape vine, 3 doz raspberries and 3 very overgrown strawberry beds.
At home we have an apple, a damson , a medlar and a gage and small apple in a pot!!

Do you get the impression that we are keen on our fruit?!!


NB I forgot I have also taken cuttings from my neighbours gooseberries to see if we can grow them on.

[fruitylou]

I have planned for this year an orchard on a recession busting shoe-string, using low cost supermarkets, propagating from cuttings and seeds. I'm planning an informal orchard underplanted with currant bushes, wild strawberries and hardy herbs.

[shona_b]

I always force some early champagne rhubarb by leaving one crown under a bucket - it really signifies the start of spring with the first crop.