19 January 2008
First Venture Into The Garden 2008
Posted by Richard under: Fruit & Vegetables; Smallholding .
We got our Christmas presents from my parents delivered on Thursday - 18 Raspberry canes, one Redcurrant, one Whitecurrant, one Blackcurrant and a Gooseberry bush. We ordered them prior to Christmas, but Marshalls closes down for deliveries for a couple of weeks in mid-winter.
On Thursday evening we put the canes and bare rooted bushes into a couple of buckets of water to soak until we had opportunity to plant them out. The wet weather was holding off today, so wheeled a good load of well-rotted manure up from the heap, and planted up the currants and gooseberry. We thought the soil would be terrible to work with all the rain - but it was fine (all that digging and manure last season must have done the trick). The tough bit is pruning back the bare stems, knowing that you’re not going to get any fruit this year - but you keep telling yourself that it will mean more fruit in the long run. (I am looking forward to our own redcurrant jelly to go with our own lamb).
We will tackle the raspberries tomorrow (probably in the rain). Six of the canes are of the ‘primocane’ that fruit on this seasons growth - so at least we may get a few to eat in the autumn.
4 Comments so far...
Cottage Smallholder Says:
20 January 2008 at 10:13 am.
Soft fruit is such a good investment. What a wonderful Christmas present!
Jo Knight Says:
20 January 2008 at 10:52 am.
I like the idea of own redcurrant jelly with own lamb….I’m off to the garden centre to get a redcurrant bush myself! We have raspberries (2 varieties), blackcurrants & gooseberries, all of which proved marvellously prolific last year - although we had quite a problem with mildew on the raspberries as it was so damp. But the Autumn Bliss variety were exacty that….bliss. Never tasted raspberries like it; you’ve got a great investment there….& the best bit is, it’s the gift that really does keep on giving.
Richard Says:
20 January 2008 at 5:47 pm.
CS - We missed not having any soft fruit of our own last year - we managed to beg, borrow and steal of friends and neighbours…but it feels better to have our own source now.
Jo - We got a job lot of redcurrants off a friend last year and made jelly, but I can’t wait for that day when we have a Sunday roast of lamb, veg and redcurrant jelly all from the ‘notaproperfarmer’ flock and garden.
Jo Knight Says:
21 January 2008 at 12:40 am.
I can honestly say, you cannot beat a meal sourced from your own place & TLC (see my post about the multi-bird roast we enjoyed for Christmas Dinner - simply gorgeous!).
In my experience there are few meals which could beat our own indulgent weekend breakfast: home-produced sausage, bacon, eggs, spuds & tomatoes with home-baked bread etc (washed down of course, by a humble cuppa complemented with our lovely ladies’ fresh goats’ milk) - it truly is heaven on a plate. The delicious taste; lack of chemicals; distance travelled of food feet rather than miles; & quality of our animals’ lives makes all that hard labour of love, worth every flavourful bite.