It has been a rough week weatherwise and I am pretty busy at home but I got down to the plot on Sunday, mainly to collect my onion and seed potato order. As always I have ordered far too much! I have 6 kilos of seed potatoes when 4 kilos is probably enough. However, I wanted to try out a range of different sorts of potato. I have 2 kilos of Sarpo Mira as a backup if we have a bad blight year, though I am pleased to find that last year's crop is only just beginning to sprout, whereas all the other types I grew have long shoots already after the very warm autumn we have had. I have a kilo of King Edwards (my wife's favourite), Pentland Javelin (my first early), Cara (for Baking potatoes) and Charlotte (My favourite). As I read somewhere, I shall alternate the rows as a way of trying to limit the way blight spreads. In the meantime I shall be chitting them all in trays in the (cool) spare bedroom next to the window. Once I had collected the bags of spuds I went on the plot and pruned my soft fruit. My gooseberries and blackcurrants are very neglected. A standard gooseberry had multiple suckers growing from the rootstock which I had to cut off below ground and dig out. I then pruned the tangle of branches, removing any broken or crossing wood and anything that sags down to the ground. Then I trimmed leading shoots by about a third and side shoots by more. The blackcurrants were trimmed a bit but the main job was to remove about a third of the old wood, choosing anything growing awkwardly or close to the ground. The finished standard fruit bushes. The gooseberry needs a proper stake! All netted against birds pecking the buds.
I went home with some leeks, some purple broccoli sprouts, a small cauliflower and some small turnips.
Sheila Ryan
8/2/2016 10:55:57 pm
thanks Steve, good to meet you Sunday. Good luck with the working party, if can help let me know - but I think it needs 'equipment' to clear up the debris and take it away... 22/2/2023 08:27:29 am
It's always exciting to receive seed potatoes and plan out the different types to try out! I appreciate the author's approach of alternating the rows to limit the spread of blight. Pruning soft fruit can be quite the task, but it's essential for promoting healthy growth and a good harvest. It's great to see that the author took the time to tend to neglected gooseberries and blackcurrants. The finished fruit bushes look lovely and I'm sure the netting will protect against pesky birds. Overall, a nice update on the author's gardening activities. Comments are closed.
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May 2023
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