Brownbear
|
Allotment suggestionsI appear to have agreed to take on half an allotment. It's cultivated but weed-ridden, and I've arranged the loan of a rotavator to give it a good hiding before planting anything. Rather than trying to grow things like carrots and lettuce, which are either devoured by slugs or fall prey to some nameless horror, I want to put in some rhubarb plants, some sweetcorn and lots of raspberries.
Does anyone have any suggestions for the varieties of rhubarb and raspberry I could grow? One of the allotment holders tells me that most people plant an Autumn-fruiting variety that for some reason does not need protecting from birds, though I have no rooted objection to putting up some netting over it if the raspberries are nicer. I'll be putting in some of that ground matting to keep the weeds down, if that makes any difference to anything.
|
marigold
|
Another advantage of autumn-fruiting raspberries is that they don't need supporting and you just hack the lot down in February. Autumn Bliss aren't necessarily the tastiest of raspbs, but I started picking on June 22nd this year and they'll go on until November, weather permitting. If I had more space I'd have a summer variety as well, but I think it's worth having a few autumn ones just for the extended season.
|
Behemoth
|
Get three or four types of rasberries, early, mid, late and autumn. My early and mid season have finished and I've now fot a few weeks to wait til the autumn variety. Make sure you can get a mower down each side of the row. They will try to spread and the easy way to deal with that is to mow the paths regulalrly. I don't net my rasps and still get loads. Birds don't seem overly bothered.
Too late for sweet corn but you could prepare for next year, dig in plenty of muck and maybe sow and over wintering green manure.
Check what weeds you have before rotovating. You could make matters worse.
|
tahir
|
Carrots don't succumb to slugs round here. You could plant turnips and lots of different brassicas now.
|
cab
|
If I was rotivating now, I'd look to clear a patch to plant to sow perpetual beet spinach or chard for winter, and I'd keep a patch over for autum sowed broad beans. Turnips and suchlike as Tahir says, thats a good plan too.
I keep hearing good things about the Rasp. variety 'Tulameen'. Anyone here grow it?
Oh, as for Rhubarb, I like 'Timperlely Early' and 'Victoria'. Both okay for forcing, but they'll happily stand out there and keep producing into summer instead, and they've a good flavour.
I'd be more tempted by some of the hybrid berries than raspberry. I can't reccomend tayberries highly enough, marvellous plant, very useful fruit.
|
yummersetter
|
If you leave some autumn raspberries uncut when you do your Feb slashing, they bear fruit through the summer, then you cut those out when the new canes come into production.
In my garden, rhubarb plants take a few years to grow to good cropping size, if the slugs don't make them give up first. Slugs are usually at their worst in late spring when those that have survived the winter have woken up starving - saying that, I had a row of perfect lettuces wiped out in a night last weekend by slugs the size of mice.
Now's just still OK for planting chinese greens, things like mizuna and mibuna and pakchoi that grow through the autumn and into the winter. Also endives and chicory, I've just bought some seeds for all those from Realseeds and Seeds of Italy and will have plenty of seeds to spare if you'd like to try some. Radishes are good to grow - they produce edible roots very quickly.
|
mochyn
|
judith grows the biggest rhubarb I've ever seen. seems to have a long season too.
How about some other fruit bushes too? Blackcurrants and gooseberries I find essential.
Another perennial is globe artichoke: good looking, very easy to grow and yummy.
|
Brownbear
|
Gooseberries are a no-no there, as one pf the people who lives nearby has a great fondness for them, and steals them as they ripen.
I wanted to grow rhubarb and razzers as they are fairly pricy and we love both of them in jam, puddings and ice cream (Madame makes the most wonderful rhubarb crumble ice cream). Also, they can be surrounded by anti-weed matting - I haven't enough time to be over there tending and weeding all the time.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
|
LynneA
|
You can't go wrong with Glen Ample summer fruiting raspberries. Strong reliable well-flavoured and abundant fruits on spineless canes. I have Fall Gold autumn raspberries. Much smaller yellow fruits, which may make them less attractive to birds. They have a sweeter less punchy flavour.
|
gil
|
Jerusalem artichokes : plant them in and watch them grow - even taller than you, BB !
Redcurrants : for jelly, and to help set your rhubarb jam. The bushes will need netting, though.
Blackcurrant bushes don't need netting, and are also good for jam and desserts.
|
lottie
|
Marshalls are selling Brassica plug plants for September delivery[ 64 assorted for£10.95] so you could still get a crop in, also raspberries/rhubarb etc as well ,various stuff for autumn planting.
|
Slim
|
Himbo top is a very productive red autumn. You can also do yellow raspberries if the birds are terrible
|
happytechie
|
all the people that fee sent canes to last year will have some plants they don't want if they are willing to dig them up for you in the winter. They should fruit a bit next year if you get them in before spring. Autumn fruiting un named plants, loads of plump fruit from now till the first frosts.
If I had to try and manage a plot now I'd go for spuds, jerusalem fartichokes and lots of soft fruit. ground cover matting is essential I think if you want low maintanance.
|
VM
|
We were picking our autumn raspberries into the first week of December last year - which to my mind makes them really worthwhile as it just seems magic to have fresh soft fruit at that time - and they are very nice added to cooked fruit like plums bottled or frozen earlier in the autumn.
And yes, they are also fairly low maintenance.
|
