MR VEG WORDS OF WISDOM FRUIT

MR VEG WORDS OF WISDOM

FRUIT



Many people want to grow vegetables and salad crops but when ground space is limited or unavailable then many gardeners turn their attention to growing soft and hard fruits.



The “hard” fruits I would refer to Apples, Pear, Cherry, Plum and Peaches with others on this list. The “soft” fruits I would refer to the Currants, black/red/white Gooseberry, Strawberry, Raspberry and Loganberry. This is not an exhaustive list as other more unusual fruits can be grown in the open ground or under glass, Figs, Grapes and as we have witnessed recent at the Incredible Edible Todmorden Harvest Festival even the citrus fruits of Oranges, Limes and Lemons.



To make things easy we will start with the soft fruits, the Currant family and Raspberry, Gooseberry and Logan berry. Strawberry is very easy but I prefer to grow in large pots or tubs as the spreads quite easy and they can be invasive unless you manage them hard, if you have a specific area to grow them that won’t be needed for any else to grow that season, then that is fine.



Any soft fruit bush or canes because of the permanent planting position (in other words you will not be replanting or moving them each growing season) the spending of some time in a bit of ground preparation will go a long way and you should be rewarded by good heavy crops. The soil needs to be deep and well dug, free from weeds, moist, open to the sun and air and if possible not in a hollow that is prone to frosts. Choose the plants with care bought from reputable suppliers and if necessary get advice from the nurseryman on varieties to grow and for the space provided.



Many varieties will need to be pollinated from another bush or tree – in the case of soft fruits this should not be a problem because more than likely you will be growing several plants but in the case of say apple or pear you might be tempted to buy just one of each type check with the nursery if you have any concerns about pollination.



Getting your stock of plants from the local nursery is the best option as the plants will all be certified stock and more than likely be of good quality and more importantly you know what you are buying and what hopefully with TLC should crop. Be aware of getting unknown plants as you could easily be introducing disease and pests into your garden or growing plot, but if you are certain about a plant that some one else has grown and you with to take cuttings then the following chapter is aimed at you.



The increasing of stock of plants by many means all come under the heading of propagation. There are various methods used to increase one stock from the simple cutting of shoots and stems from parent bushes and trees to roots cuttings, leaf cuttings, division, suckers, layering and aerial layering plus some others less well know, budding, pipings and vine eyes – growers of the particular plants concerned would easily recognise those last three terms. But we will stick with simple cuttings and layering.



Propagation of currants and gooseberry is as follows – you need to take cuttings from the current years growth about 9 –12 inches long and about as thick as a pencil with a clean cut made just below the bud eye. Remove all the leaves apart from the top few and insert the cuttings into a sandy soil mix to a depth of about 4-5 inches making the soil firm around each cutting. Prepared cuttings of these type of plants maybe inserted into sandy soil direct into the open ground, choosing a sheltered spot in partial shade a good place is in the cover of and existing hedge. If all goes well then you should have ready to transplant cuttings in the spring.



Logan berry & blackberry, anyone who has worked with the blackberry will be aware of how easily it spreads, new shoots appear where the young growing stems makes contact with the soil, it starts to make roots to feed the growing plant - this is it’s method of propagation, so even if you cut the stem at the parent plant the new growth continues unabated. Thus the cuttings of these plants is just as easy but in this case we don’t actually cut anything we simply hold down with a stone or sometimes a wire hoop the growing stems making sure they remain in contact with the ground you can fool the plant by replacing the “ground” with a filled earthenware pot (flowerpot) and use a hooped wire to secure the stem into the soil in the pot and provided the soil is kept moist they should root easy, then once separated from the parent plant they are ready to be transplanted to their final growing position, this method of propagation works well if layering is done August with new rooted plants being ready about Feb – March. (this method I’ve found work very well with strawberries)



Raspberry, these plants are very subject to a range of viruses, the modern nursery now has access to certified stock and it’s strongly advised that for the raspberry grower to only buy in certified stock. But at least growing them if you pay attention to the following you should not go far wrong. Raspberries do best in full sun and in a lime free soil that is not waterlogged all fruits need a slightly acid soil conditions but raspberries will stand a more acid soil than most. The soil needs to be will dug and free from perennial weeds such as couch grass and bindweed plenty of well-rotted organic matter needs to be incorporated into the ground. Raspberries like many other soft fruit bushes are shallow rooted, 2-3 inches so any deep digging in and around the plants is inadvisable hence the all important ground prep before hand.

Autumn is the bet time to plant but any time up to early spring providing the ground is not too waterlogged or frosted. Too deep planting is one common fault with raspberries the roots need no more than to be planted at 3 inches or so depth if the stock has arrived from the nursery then the soil mark on the stems demonstrates the correct planting depth.