Now that there’s just me at home most of the time, I’ve decided that a full allotment is probably somewhat excessive. Last year I had rhubarb, plums and apples coming out of my ears in the relevant seasons and the time I have available to spend up at the allotments seems to have decreased In inverse proportion to my workload!
With four established apple trees and two plum trees right in the middle of my plot, a logical split halfway isn’t going to work, especially as I have my invaluable shed in amongst the trees, plus the compost heap, a cold frame, and the essential table and chairs for potting out and reviving cups of tea. The only solution, to my mind, is to give up the third at the top of my plot where I have all my fruit bushes. That section was the first bit I cultivated when I took over the plot as it already had established blackcurrant bushes in it, but they have decreased in vigour over the years, plus the whole area is infested with the dreaded couch grass. The bottom section of my plot, on the other hand, has my raised beds and the yields from this area are far superior to the yield from the top area.
So much for the old guard at the allotment who are vehemently anti-raised beds, regarding them as “television gardening”! Relatively new-fangled they may be, but I find it so much more manageable to go up and know I can tackle a couple of beds, rather than the daunting task of where to start in a whole expanse of plot. Then there’s the lack of digging – hurrah! – I’m all for letting the worms do the work – and the irrefutable fact that the yields are excellent. No need to compact the soil between rows as the beds are about 4 feet wide by 10 feet long, so reachable from all sides. I’ve put black weedproof membrane down between the beds and bark chippings on top, so it’s relatively easy to maintain. The idea had been to be able to get a wheelbarrow between the beds, but the chap I hired to install the beds didn’t follow my carefully worked-out plan as accurately as I’d have liked, so it’s a bit of a squeeze in places – but just about accessible nonetheless. They’ve been in situ about 7 years now and I’m going to have to replace some of the boards this year, but am having trouble getting any used boards from my usual supplier. The prolonged wet weather has meant that many of the large projects have had scaffolding out over the winter and it’s still not been returned, so they’ve no new used boards to get rid of yet. I’ll keep trying….
Anyway, back to the downsizing! Rather than do it all in one fell swoop, I’ve decided to gradually transfer some of my rhubarb (early and late varieties), a layer of my Invicta gooseberry and a couple of blackcurrant layers (Ben Sarek) to one of the raised beds this year. My redcurrants, already a second-hand gift from my uncle when I got them, are too large and old to move successfully, so I’ve bought a new redcurrant (Laxton’s) and I intend to move the relatively young whitecurrant bush from the old bed too. That was today’s job; next I hope to dig up some raspberry suckers, the autumn-fruiting Joan J and the summer-fruiting Glen Ample, which had their best-ever year last year, to go in another of the raised beds. Hopefully, by next season, these will all have established and I can relinquish the top third to someone on the waiting list! Watch this space…
In the meantime, the hellebores at home are beautiful this year, and all the daffodils and primroses are filling the garden with the scents of spring. A lovely time to be out and about in the garden…
Rhubarb & Raspberries 