I had a few days leave this week so I spent it on the lottie planting fruit bushes. I had dug up some raspberries from my garden - they didn't do very well there. My brother gave me one which he suspects may be a golden variety and a fellow allotmenteer, who was giving up her plot, gave me permission to dig up hers. All in all about 30 plants altogether - it's a good job we both love raspberries. I had been mulling over how to construct a cheap fruit cage. Searching on line showed them to be very expensive to buy and what with timber being quite pricey I had a walk around the site to see what others were doing to protect their fruit. I saw one plot had a simple cane, tennis ball and netting affair - genius. Tennis balls £1 for 4 in Poundland, I had already bought 8ft canes last year and 4m x 20m netting for about £36 from ebay (it is my birthday in March and I asked for money to buy allotment stuff). I'm pretty impressed, even if I do say so myself.
I joined the netting in the middle with twine and likewise secured it in the corners to stop the surplus netting tripping me up.
I also planted a couple of very small blueberry bushes, that I also bought from Poundland.
In the foreground you can see the ph meter - just checking the the mixture of manure and ericacious compost was acid enough. Under the netting to the right are currant bushes; black, white and red. Also a few strawberries donated by my mum. I hoping to have a few more stawberries soon as a free gift from subscribing to Grow Your Own magazine - another birthday present, thanks Dad.
2 comments:
Hello! Just been having a read about your allotment (nice to cyber meet you by the by!!). What a fine fruit cage - looks ever so tall!! Just how big are raspberry canes? I had some sort of 2ft shrub idea in my head, but obvi they're a bit more along the triffid lines!! LOVE the tennis balls, gives the whole thing rather an interstellar listening device type feeling!!!! Will read more. All the best, Carol
Hello Carol,
Thank you for leaving a comment - you are the first person to comment on my blog!
Yes they are rather tall - about 6 or 7 foot. I wanted something I could stand up in as the cage next to that one with gooseberries and currants is only 4 ft and I have to crawl under that one and I'm getting a bit old for that. The raspberry one is a bit OTT though, as I'm only 5ft 1, but from what I've read the raspberries could end up as tall as me. Other people have commented on its appearance too - I'm not alone in having one like this though, cos I pinched the idea from a lady who has a plot near mine.
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