Grow Your Own Magazine

I have dug all my fruit bushes up from my allotment (due to packing the allotment in after all my veg crop gone missing/vandalised and no support from the council for security)
I bought all my fruit bushes earlier this year planted them on in my plot but dug them all up and put them in to 12inch pots all are still young bushes but will they all be ok to grow in the pots till I can get something sorted and do I need to trim them !!
Gooseberries, raspberries, redcurrant and blackberry bushes
Also dug my 3 rhubarb plants up that I also got earlier this year and potted them in to large tubs.
Just about given up on the allotment and the free for all takers, all my hard work was for nothing.

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Smile and the world smiles with you

Sorry to hear of your theft.
Were people taking anything specific, or just taking anything they could find?
Had you been on that allotment for a long time?

That kind of thing is what deters us from getting an allotment.

A few years ago, when we decided to grow fruit and veg for ourselves, we considered an allotment, but we feared that theft or vandalism would spoil our hard work, so we opted to grow it in our (fairly large) garden instead. Some friends of ours also have allotments and they don't get any trouble.

Your fruit plants should survive being dug out. They should also be OK in containers for another year or two, if needs be.
Digging them out will have damaged the roots. If you prune them, their recovery might be slower, but those kind of plants are pretty resilient, so once they're dormant for the winter, I would prune only the parts that you consider absolutely necessary - to give good fruiting in later years.
If you can't decide on what pruning is best for their new homes, you can wait and think for a while - and delay pruning until late winter-early spring (February-March).

If you're prone to sharp frosts, you might want to wrap the pots in bubble wrap, or something similar, to give some frost protection for the roots. There's no point in damaging the already-damaged roots even more. Alternatively, bury the pots up to their rim in your garden, for frost protection of the roots.

FB

I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you catch the little u-know-whats. It makes me sick. I've still not been successful getting an allotment despite waiting 18 months, and I have a tidgy patio back garden with a Lleylandii hedge all over so not much grows, however, success!! I buried some left over seed spuds beneath the hedge in June and have just trimmed the hedge now and as I swept up the clippings off the border, there was the most beautiful white spud you've ever seen. I dug the rest up and had them for tea and they were beautiful!
I have rhubarb in pots and minarette apple trees. the rhubarb is fine year on year. The trees i wrap in fleece until about April/ May and they're fine.
So, if i can grow spuds in minimal soil and space, you'll be fine.

Y'know I'd write to the local newspaper just to shame the council for not giving a toss!!

Thank you for both your replies – Felt very let down but will soon get back and thinking of taking the hole of my back garden to make space for more veggie growing and forget the allotment ideas.
I will wait till spring before pruning the fruit bushes and will wrap the tubs with fleece over winter

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Smile and the world smiles with you

Rhubarb will need to get in the ground around now as they are heavy feeders. If it makes you feel better I garden in a very tiny front garden and have a lot of fruit every year. Small gardens are great for fruit, so don't get down, get creative, grow strawberries in baskets or in tubs on the wall. Grow apples over the path as a tunnel cordon or step over. Beans do great in small spaces and I have two figs and two blueberries that do great every year. My garden is small, the size of a car park space but I get alot from it each year. I'm so sorry that your allotment was vandalised but don't let them win or deter you. Keep growing.

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Best wishes
Andrewo
Harbinger of Rhubarb tales