Tuesday started off sunny but clouded over around lunchtime. It didn't put us off visiting the allotment though. On the agenda was to finish off the supports for our new raspberries and get our honeyberries planted.
At the beginning of the week this is how our proposed new honeyberry bed looked. The lavender hedge around the outside is work in progress but inside the bed are (or were) some blackcurrant and whitecurrant bushes grown from cuttings taken off some very old bushes we used to have. Whilst the bushes have grown well enough the fruit they've produced has been second rate compared with that of some new currant bushes so we decided they might as well go. After some time mulling over various options we decided to try some honeyberries.
The plants arrived from Victoriana Nurseries last week. They were unpacked and given a good watering and left in the cold greenhouse. I had planned to pot them on intending to plant them out in the allotment next spring once the weather warmed up a bit and their new bed had been cleared. This good spell of weather has changed that plan as the bed has now been cleared of the old fruit bushes, dug over and the new honeyberry bushes planted.
They do look a little bit lost in their new home but they are supposed to grow into bushes around 2.0m tall so we've given them a decent amount of space. They've also been planted through weed control fabric which has been covered with a thin layer of wood chippings to keep it in place.
The plants certainly had plenty of roots. I did my best to tease out the roots as recommended on all the best gardening programmes so I'm hoping the honeyberries will grow away strongly come spring time. Trying to decide how much to tease without causing too much damage to the roots was a little tricky. I’ll have to hope I got it about right.
I even had enough time left to finish off the raspberry supports. The posts are hammered in and the supporting wires threaded.
So it’s been a couple of very productive days on the plot. I'm hoping that getting our new raspberries and honeyberries planted now rather than looking after them over winter in our cold greenhouse at home will turn out to be a good move. I can’t remember planting anything on the allotment in December before. I suppose we’ll have to wait until next spring to know if it’s been a success.
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You have been working hard, it all looks wonderful. I'll be interested to see what the honeyberries look like, and hear about what the taste is like - they're new to me.
ReplyDeleteI've also been testing out a new method of harvesting our leeks.
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