Some of you may have read with envious eyes that we were lucky enough to be donated a fruit cage.. We duly constructed the cage, and promised ourselves that when the fruits from our strawberries, raspberries, back-currants, white-currants and gooseberries began to swell, we would put the roof on quick smart. We observed it happening, and confirmed to each other that next time we’d sort it. Yes you’ve guessed it – we didnt and our feathered friends have had a feast once again on our delicious fruit. At least it wasn’t rats or some other ‘uglier’ pest – I like birds a lot and feeding some possibly cancels out the bad karma that my cat may have recently brought on my household….
Meanwhile we are swimming in a sea of broad bean heaven, not only did we plant some might say a ridiculous amount, but the diligent pinching out of the tops of sap drenched new growth has thwarted a major attack from apids.
Our plants look very healthy and not a spray or slug pellet has sneaked onto our plot, despite a savage month of relentless slug offensives on our poor defenceless seedlings. They were tempted away with our slug pubs, but there was a high casualty rate – french beans completely wiped out. This resulted in us having to bring everything on in the green-house – to give them a fighting chance. We hope that now the birds are full of energy from our fruit they might turn their attention to molluscs… We also hope that our allotment neighbour is successful in her quest to build a pond, so that frogs can live nearby and feast on the slimey enemy.
We are eagerly awaiting some pay back from the tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet corn, courgettes, and other goodies that are nestled in out plot, albeit a little bit later than we would have liked. Our plot is looking full again and bursting with colour and flowers. The weeds continue to try and upset us but nothing can dampen our spirits – not even the rain which we are getting in bucketfuls like the rest of the country. When its raining we dont have to tear up and down the plot trying to quench the thirst of our plants.
All is good and its good to be a gardener!
keener
hey keener,
good to hear from you!
ahhh….fruits…we have no fruits…but the house we are hoping to buy has a big raspberry patch!! along with an organic garden…
so we’ll hopefully have raspberries next year if the house buying process all goes well.
our veggie garden this year is a little sad. We’re not sure why…things are not thriving as they have the last several years. Usually by now we are eating out of our garden 100%….this year we are supplementing from the store…
I can only hark back nostalgically to when we lived further south where the climate suited growing black currants and raspberries. I love the fruit. You’ve come a long way with your gardening. Enjoy the rewards.
Great gardening site. I love your allotment. You have had some luck with the getting your greenhouse, shed and fruit cage. Those are the three things on every allotment holders wish list. I have just been very kindly given a fruit cage too, but I am not sure how to put it up.
Was your’s easy to put up? I don’t know where to start.
I was hoping to have it up by now, before the birds attack!!
Any ideas?
Keep up the good work guys.
Hi thanks for your comments.
Gianna – good to hear from you too. Sorry to hear about the lack of veggies this year – must be very frustrating!! Perhaps your soil could be exhausted or are you having unseasonal weather like the UK. Anyways, I hope you get the house – big raspberry patch – thats definitely a good selling point for a property! I am also moving soon, to within a 2 minute walk to the allotment rather than the 30 min drive I got now. This property has a big garden too – cant wait!
Jenny – you always leave such kind and thoughtful comments which make us smile. Ta very much!
Carly – We have to pinch ourselves sometimes (not each other lol!) when we think how far we’ve come in 18 months – we’ve grafted hard but also received a lot of luck and generosity too.. Congratulations on the fruit cage. Ours was super easy to put up in terms of its design. Like a tent or wendy house – just slotted together. It was a little rusty in places and we had to use splints to keep the frame strong. There were clips with the frame that secured the netting to the poles and we used tent pegs to hold the net to the ground. I cant comment on the construction of the roof of course! Good luck with it and your veggie/fruit growing..
Keener
Carly with regards to the fruit cage, you can buy all the fittings, hooks, poles and netting from garden centres. I would suggest laying out the fruit cage first to see if you have all the pieces, then a trip to the garden centre might be needed for the missing parts. I had already bodged ours together with strips of wood and tape by the time I had saw the cage sytem in shops. It’s easier to erect with 2 pairs of hands, with the help of my brother it took about 45 minutes to put up and like Keener said it’s pretty much like a large wendy house but the four corner poles need banging into the ground to secrure it into place. Our heavy clay soil has held them in place a treat!
This is a useful allotment growing shop to try for parts: http://www.allotment.org.uk/greenhouse/Plant_Fruit_Protection_Cage/s-cage_access.html
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Bean
Thanks for the advice Bean, and great link for the allotment shop. I now have a fruitcage at my allotment at last, erected with a little help from my brother too!
My raspberries and strawberries will be safe next year.
I have been looking back over some of your photos of when you first got your allotment. Wow you have put so much effort in……its paid off it looks amazing. What a difference……What an inspiration.
Carly
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I love fruits. Interesting article