Berry Good

The section at the end of the allotment is a perfect place for raspberries. I have dug the part which meets the main path from top to bottom to a width of about 2 ft. Before the earth was dug it was full of trampled grass, loads of bindweed and buttercups and the ground was very compacted. It needed at least half a dozen thorough digs to get it into some reasonable state. The earth is now nice and crumbly and has about 4" of leaves on top of it which were well watered. On top of all that is a length of thick black plastic so that the leaves will "sweat" and break down and hopefully produce a good mulch/soil enhancer so that the raspberries are given a good start in life. Today I went to the local recycling centre and picked up 3 "fill a bag of compost" sacks (they are quite large and it took some effort) for £1 each. Bargain! These will be put at the bottom of the trench I shall dig so that the raspberries will be putting their roots into some good, wholesome muck.

I have ordered 2 types of raspberries - summer fruiting and autumn fruiting. Glen Ample and Glen Moy are both summer fruiting and should be ready to harvest between mid/late June and early August. Autumn Bliss is the autumn variety that I have chosen and that should be ready to harvest from late August until mid October. So hopefully there will be a steady supply of fruit for about 5 months of the year. My mind is already running away with me - raspberry jam, raspberry ice cream, fresh raspberries, raspberry jelly.....