October magazine offer of raspberries and strawberries.

[Jay22]

Thanks goodness I'm not alone! I was beginning to wonder if they were alive or not.

Will have a look at the Adblock plus VC, thank you!

[Moopmoop]

My strawbs from the offer are all fine and looking healthy, the rasp canes on the other hand are like sticks, however the autumn bliss rasps I have are thriving. Still early days yet though I understand. Well happy today after I discovered asparagus tips coming through, yay!!!

[Jay22]

Good for you...I still have zero on either!

[Scarlet]

Autumn Fruiting

Summer fruiting

Jay my rasps have been in for several years so well established but my summer fruiting raspberries are pretty much asleep, (just the one is showing a little green)autumn raspberries have just broken some of their buds (on last years canes that I haven't pruned out). Although there is no sign of any new growth coming from the ground yet and I'm much further south than you!

[Jay22]

Scarlet I had a little scrape of the bottom of the canes of raspberries and it's fresh green so I'm hopeful they will be ok. Absolutely nothing on the Strawbs...think they have bitten the dust!

[Moopmoop]

Good for you...I still have zero on either!

You'll get there man, Rome wasn't built in a day. You're a fair bit further up North than me, have you had many decent weather days recently? Plants quite often don't come out of winter dormancy until you have a few consecutive days where it's warm. I'm really behind compared to last year cos last February was beautiful down here, up to now I don't think we've had a day above 15C.

[Jay22]

Don't think we've been above 10 degrees here but it has been lovely and sunny this past week. If I didn't have to I wouldn't put my head out of the duvet just yet either!

[Scarlet]

We've had some lovely days over the last couple of weeks, my toms have been sunning their selves in the GH ......just rubbing it in

[Moopmoop]

So today I've been and inspected most of the fruit bushes/trees/plants etc. in the back garden. Everything is showing signs of life, blueberries look like I'm going to have a cracking year as there are buds everywhere. Strawberries/pineberries all healthy, raspberries have got green shoots, white/black/red/pink currants all waking up, fig has green tips, gooseberry has got shoots everywhere and the cherry has small buds forming. Also got some framberries but they are in need of tlc and don't seem to be as tough as strawberries.

After all that positivity I am slightly annoyed at myself as I can't remember what type of cherry I have??? I think I bought it from Spalding bulbs but I've logged in to my account and I can't see any previous orders.

PS and the rhubarb that I thought had snuffed it is romping away, just been out in the garden still wrapped in a bath towel to have a dig in the soil around the cherry cos I thought it had a label on, it has not.

[Zelenina]

Might they have sent you an email confirming your order? And if so, might you be able to find it again?

[Moopmoop]

I forgot to mention that I have already looked through emails and it's not there. I've looked at the trees on Spalding's website and I'm hoping that it's a Stella but it could also be a Sylvia. I guess as long as it gives me fruit it doesn't matter too much what variety it is. I assume that it will be self pollinating either way.

[Jay22]

Well the raspberries have at long last decided to show some sign of life, what I wonder is...there is absolutely no growth on the Strawberries is it time to bin the lot, should they not be well on their way by now?

[Moopmoop]

Have you been watering them enough Jay? You'll know if they're dead cos they go brown and crispy. I wouldn't give up hope yet, my strawberries haven't given a lot of growth so far this year. It is only April and I've only had decent weather the last few weeks. If it was me I'd water and feed them if they aren't crispy and brown, if nothing happens in a few weeks try giving them a little pull, if they come away from the soil easy chuck em cos they're not growing, if they resist, they're growing. Waiting is the worst thing in the world but sometimes all you need is a little patience

[Moopmoop]

Also Jay did you soak the roots before planting? I find this helps bring the plants out of dormancy. If you did then they should be fine, if not I'd give the soil a good soak over the next few days. Hope they come to life for you anyway

[Jay22]

Planted them when they arrived...November maybe? Kept them in the blowaway over the winter but there has been no change since. Have fed them recently, kept them watered. Will do as you suggest and wait a couple of weeks and see what happens. Thank you again Moopmoop.