Fruit cage

4. APRIL

/ Allotment Queen / Leave a comment

Today was a beautiful spring day and after a morning’s work in the big greenhouse at home I went to the allotment. The plan was to weed the fruit cage. I couldn’t believe how many dandelions I had to dig out, I clearly remember doing it only a few months ago. Never mind, the job is done. I had to trim the branches of my standard gooseberry and I noticed that it is ready to flower. Even better news was the fact that my two honeyberries are both flowering so I might actually get some fruit. One or two would be enough for a start.

All the other bushes are doing well, I’m hopeful that we’ll have a rich harvest.

Because it was such a lovely afternoon I carried on with my work, the net tunnel next to the fruit cage also needed weeding. It wasn’t too bad and while I was doing that I decided to sow some chard there. Again, this is to protect it from the pigeons, they would love to get their beaks on the young leaves.

I have got blackcurrants in there so there’s enough space to grow the chard.

I love this time of year, the Asian pear looks magnificent when it flowers. I just hope I’ll have some fruit, we didn’t have any last year even though it flowered well. Perhaps it was having a rest….

WhatsApp Image 2023-04-04 at 16.57.31

11. MARCH

/ Allotment Queen / 2 Comments

After a few days of heavy snow, high wind and winter temperatures I was able to go to my allotment. To be honest I was dreading it, all I could think of was my fruit cage. I know I should take the top net off before every winter – I was used to do it soon after I got the cage. During those winters we didn’t have any snow so I thought I would take my chances and leave the net on. It was fine  for a few years and then one early spring we had a sudden heavy snow fall. It was touch and go, a couple of the upright posts were leaning but I managed to knock the snow off and straighten everything. Again the last few years all was fine – until this week. The heavy snow was a huge shock for me and there was no chance I could go there and try to save the situation. But my worries were unfounded, the cage survived.

20230311_100841

My first task there however was to rake the wood chip on the paths, the place looks much better immediately.

There was one casualty on the plot however, the very first net cage that Mike helped me to build. It is quite old, I can’t even remember how long ago we did it.

20230311_100928

It suffered some damage a few years ago but then I was able to rescue it. Not this time. But things are never that bad, I will be able to use the net and also the plastic tubes and dismantling the cage was surprisingly quick.

2. JANUARY

/ Allotment Queen / 4 Comments

 Today started as another spring-like day so I was ready nice and early and went to the allotment. The plan was to finish weeding inside the fruit cage and perhaps on the outside as well. It is rather a never ending job. I’m sure I cleared the weeds a few times last year but they were as healthy as before.

I was hoping to finish it all today and I’m pleased to say that I did. The ground didn’t feel too muddy so the weeds came out quite clean. All the same I had about four of the soft garden buckets of them. The main thing is that I managed to finish the job.

I will have to keep an eye on it and stop the weeds from spreading too much.

29. NOVEMBER

/ Allotment Queen / 1 Comment

At last I was able to start weeding the fruit cage today. This was one of the places I looked at regularly and kept weeding. All the same the weeds just grew and grew.

I started by pulling out first the tall weeds, dandelions and thistles and then continued just turning the ground with my hoe and clearing everything else. This is going to keep me busy for a while, no quick fix here I’m afraid. Not only did I have to cope with the weeds inside the cage but also there was the narrow path between the cage and the net tunnel to clear.

 

After the whole morning I have got this path altogether sorted out and a part of the cage. To be continued another time.

20221129_125122

20. JUNE

/ Allotment Queen / 2 Comments

Today was going to be a harvesting day and I’m very pleased with the result. I have a little routine when I get to my allotment. First I open my four greenhouses to get some fresh air in, perhaps water the plants if it looks like a hot day ahead and then start the real tasks I had in mind. This was exactly what happened in the morning. As soon as the greenhouses were done I started harvesting the currants, red and white ones. Both bushes are in the fruit cage, safe from thieving birds so I don’t have to hurry picking the fruit. I picked two large boxes of the red currants and one of the white ones. I already had a big bowl of gooseberries at home, they were from yesterday. I always try to thin the fruit on the bushes so in the end I get some nice large gooseberries. This took most of the morning and I was quite glad to lock up and go home.

Picking the fruit was one task, the next one was removing the stalks and weighing it ready for jam  making. In the end I have a lovely lot of red currant and gooseberry jam, the white currants are so delicately flavoured I don’t make anything out of them just freeze them loose, put in a freezer bag to be enjoyed in the winter.

12. FEBRUARY

/ Allotment Queen / Leave a comment

Every now and then I feel that my efforts to keep the site reasonably weed free are like painting the Forth bridge (but even that doesn’t need painting over and over again, they have got some special paint that lasts longer). It was the turn of my largest soft fruit cage – I have lost count how many time I did that and the weeds keep coming back.

I didn’t stay much longer after that and after lunch at home it was time for some greenhouse work. I have some garlic growing in there in one of my grow beds already and now I have added some shallots and onion setts in small cell trays. It works with the garlic – I’m hedging my bets as I have some garlic growing on the allotment already.

20220212_160846

I haven’t tried it with the onions or shallots yet, it will be interesting.

SOFT FRUIT

/ Allotment Queen / 1 Comment

About two years after starting on the allotment I treated myself to a fruit cage. It wasn’t cheap but it is well worth every pound. I have rearranged the bushes there during late autumn and winter and it is much better now, enough space around each bush.

I have got a number of blueberries, gooseberries, black currant, and my favourite, red and white currants. Today I picked some of them, the white ones are delicious on our porridge in the morning.

FRUIT CAGE

/ Allotment Queen / Leave a comment

I have organised the fruit cage in the autumn and at the same time pulled all the weeds out. Or so I thought.

I decided to get the cage ready today because I’d like to put the top net back on by the end of this month. I had a nasty shock – there were weeds everywhere. I’m sure the weeds grow just to keep me busy! But I’m happy now – it took just one morning on a grey day and it looks pristine. I wonder how long it will stay like this.

All the bushes look well, even the cuttings I took and the two I was given so I have high hopes for a decent harvest.

WINTER

/ Allotment Queen / 3 Comments

I don’t much care for snow and all that – getting on a bit, but I was never very sporty, even as a young girl. I was glad I took the top net off from the fruit cage. I went to the allotment on Monday, it was a lovely crisp day, blue skies and a fair layer of snow. I have got a number of net cages there as well, I wanted to make sure I knock the snow off those.

I did that but as I was coming out of the last net cage I managed to trip and fall –  face first into a strawberry bed with a deep snow cover. Just as well I don’t have a photo – the glasses did most of the damage, they were quite out of shape but not broken. My nose was fine – I tweaked it to check for any fractures and all was well.

It didn’t really bleed but the bruises started to form and now I look like a panda. Just as well we are under lockdown, by the time we’ll be able to go out I’ll look reasonable again.

This is the view from my back door – it did look lovely, like a thick layer of icing sugar everywhere. It didn’t last long though.

20210124_102645

GREENHOUSE

/ Allotment Queen / Leave a comment

Today’s weather forecast wasn’t very good but I was hoping against hope that I might manage a spell on the allotment. I went there soon after 9am and did quite a bit of work in the fruit cage. Yesterday I went to a garden centre and used a couple of the vouchers that I won in the Johnson sunflower competition – bought a white currant. I have got one bush but the flavour is so great I always wanted another one. And it was in a sale, all the better.

As I planted it yesterday I realised I had to weed the whole area – amazing how well the weeds grow! That was the job for today.

I managed to clear more than a half of the cage and then rain stopped play. The advantage of having a greenhouse (or two…) on the plot is I can stay there and continue working in the dry. Just the right time to clear the greenhouses, pull out the plants and refresh the soil. I did all that, put in there one huge 50l sack of composted farmyard manure….

…..and all is ready for next year. Now I just need a nice sunny day to finish the fruit cage and clear out the second greenhouse and I’ll be happy.