Hobbit Allotment!

[Two_Sheds]

2 years is young ... I think mine fruited at 3

[snohare]

Else it really will be good night vienna

You mean the canes will waltz off into the sunset ?

I hope you do better with your pot grown bramble than I have done with my Black Satin. The only full-price soft fruit plant I have ever splashed out on, and in 2 years I have not had a single fruit ! It's enough to break an Aberdonian's heart...

[horticultural_hobbit]

Hmm. Hello Aunty!

have my fingers crossed. saw one green shoot today, may have been an onion, or some garlic. Really don't want too much rain. Else it really will be good night vienna.

Me and Aunty Tish are splitting some some raspberry canes. And I also anticipate a pot grown blackberry thing.

[Two_Sheds]

Not me, I know nada about fruit pruning.

(I don't feed my raspberries either ... apart from a mulch of comfrey leaves)

[snohare]

As far as rasps are concerned, clay may be good. They are gross feeders - need loads of nutrients, really big amounts - at Glentanar one of the jobs each year was barrowing loads of horse manure to spread in a layer six inches deep round each plant. The results showed that this really paid off. So, since clay has lots of nutrients, and you are going to have to feed them with manure (for the moisture retention properties as well as nutrients) - having clay is not a problem. (I'd say.)
As to which, there you have me. Maybe do an online search - type in the variety and add "reviews" or "problems" etc, see what pops up in the forums etc. I know Autumn Bliss does well up here, cropping until December in some places, but as to which company to choose - I think it is pot luck. When I was a tree nurseryman, an order taken from one field might include poor plants because we lowered our usual standards in order to make up the final few plants; a day later, in another field, the same variety of plants would be flourishing and the customer would end up delighted.
Personally I always try to get cuttings locally, so that I know they are hardy etc. My friend and gardening mentor John, who always buys, has dreadful luck sometimes. (But still gets more fruit, because I am lousy at cuttings.)
Tree pruning, you need to go to the Feeling Fruity section, or try the likes of Hessayon's books. Me, I am still learning - pruning at Craigievar Castle recently I was told, prune in summer for fruit, prune in winter for growth. Or was it the other way around ? I know you want to leave spurs of this year's wood, for fruit bearing shoots to appear on next year. Well, I think it was this year's wood... Best to consult Auntie TwoSheds I think !

[horticultural_hobbit]

I know uncle Sno did volunteer some....

okay, advice please. Raspberries. two possible companies to order from. 20 pence difference per cane. Continuity croppers. One has clay remember...I would like to just plug and play.

Plus, how do I prune my falstaff hobbit tree?

[horticultural_hobbit]

Have been channelling Aunty Two_sheds. The raised beds do have layers of grass clippings in there some place.

When you wander around thinkin' is this Aunty would do? And uncle Sno, actually, amongst others.

[Two_Sheds]

I, however, hear that you need rain

You need moist leaves, you don't necessarily need rain.
I make my leafmould in black sacks: water the leaves inside the sack if they aren't damp already, then tie the top and punch a few holes for drainage. Leave in an out-of-the-way place for 6-18 months

Rightly or wrongly, leaves are put in with newspaper layered in between.

Leaves are carbon.
Newspaper is also carbon.

You want some nitrogen (grass clippings) in there really, to speed things up.

[snohare]

Rightly or wrongly, leaves are put in with newspaper layered in between. Not sure if this is of any use; I'm trying to apply composting laws to the process.

I always try to mix as many different leaves as possible, and make sure that they are damp at least; I go out of my way to get leaves that are going mushy from lying around in drifts, as well as leaves that are sprinkled on grass. (I have a theory that these ones collect soil bacteria or whatever which helps speed up the composting.) Then I stick in as much soil and/or green stuff as possible, cover (having ensured that they are damp enough) and leave to build up heat. It is composting really, and what you are aiming for is nitrogen in the green of fresher leaves, as well as the carbon of the cellular skeleton of the leaf; if you only get totally dead, dried leaves, then you miss out on the nitrogen. Adding newspaper adds extra cellulose (carbon) but is a good way to add moisture which will help feed fungi etc. That moisture is best as rain, not tapwater. Well, that is my theory...don't take it as gospel.
Me, I go out and sweep the pavements here in the village, and rake the grass in the park; stamp it all down into the fertiliser sacks and take them in to the lottie; and there, I go out into the local streets and rake up builder's bags full of leaves, which I then must drag (uphill) along the pavement to the lottie. Nobody ever says what am I doing, they can see and don't care, or totally approve ! After all, even in the park it's hardly theft - to establish that, you would have to prove who the leaves belonged to...try that one in a court of law.

[horticultural_hobbit]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

is the current state of play.

I didn't know that it could be as little six months. Would explain the beautiful mound that I found from last year. As it stands, there are four builders bags.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

From the first picture, you can see the two that are full. All are full, at the moment. Someone told grandad mike that they needed to be covered, so he very dutifully turned the sides down and weighed it down with bricks. I, however, hear that you need rain; and last years one builders bag was open and exposed. We will change that shortly.

So there are the four builders bags. The twelve raised beds, are now being filled with leaves in addition to these. Between Grandad Mike and Dad, all the leaves that deign to fall on our two drives get swept up. They perform some sort of military like operation stacking the bags up for me. On my day off, I then take these, collecting about 13 bags before the bin men arrive and dump into the beds. I am very lucky to have Pops and Mike help. Mike will sometimes take the bags down for me. Considering he's 73, a former marathon runner and had a double hernia repair, he's a dynamo!

Last year, I didn't start collecting til late november; so I already have more than this time last year. As I have learned lessons! All bar two raised beds are full. Rightly or wrongly, leaves are put in with newspaper layered in between. Not sure if this is of any use; I'm trying to apply composting laws to the process. Then, next year, I won't have to add as much MPC. I will of course, stir the stuff between now and then.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

There are a few beds out of shot here. There are 12 all in all. I will possibly invest in a few more, should I find the appropriate amount of buttons. That's a castle in the sky at the moment.

It's all right making plans! Just have to keep tweaking them

[snohare]

You are of course perfectly correct that your soil is too heavy Hobbit. But have no fear ! I think I have seen the cause of your predicament, the removal of which will cure your woes...

I know that lead mold needs two years ish to break down

Of course, as you will find if you talk to your chemistry/physics colleagues at work, the worrying thing is what happens when it breaks down...transuranic elements, anyone... On the plus side, you should find your plant breeding programme goes with a bang.

Seriously though, leaf mould does not take two years to break down. I'd expect that to be more towards the worst-case scenario. Mixed with fine crumbly soil (do you have any ?) in a builder's bag, I find that mine takes something more like six months. So MPC will make a difference.
Personally, I am going to have a thick layer of leaves at the bottom of my new raised beds, to act as a moisture reservoir that the watering pipes feed into. I am not so worried about the nutrients, they will be a bonus when they come.

[rustylady]

I think we're all hoping that next year will be better Hobbit. It could hardly be worse than this year.

[horticultural_hobbit]

I think, Sno, Feral, I was lucky last autumn. There was relatively little rain, the rise of the tulips was entirely fluke. The dahlias have died; consumed by the clay I think. Have planted loads of tulips this year, having smiled at what came up last year.

I'm trying to make the best of the conditions. The clay is lovely, I know, but it has its pitfalls that I rue almost daily. Flowers help overcome the adversity. I will be gutted, should all the garlic, onions and shallots fail to come off. With the raised beds, hopefully that will work too. Ma and middle sister remind me regularly to make it all productive. The beds are getting filled with leaves at the moment, so I can then fill up further with MPC next year. I know that lead mold needs two years ish to break down, but hope that putting the MPC on top will help things actually come off.

There is stupid rent increase too. From the reduced price of �15-full price of a half plot is �30-to �50. Is a lot really. Unless I wish to move plots, clear it again and pay �15. Don't really fancy moving now anyway!

If I can get one vegetable next year, one courgette at the very least, I'll be happy.

[snohare]

Am going to have to speak with the universe, request that reduced amounts of precipitation fall

Be careful what you ask for Hobbit, you might get it ! I am half expecting one of those old-fashioned "iron frost" winters, where the ground was as hard as steel and the only way to dig graves was to light a bonfire above the spot first. The sunspots are going all to pot (ie vanishing) which is not a good sign, add on reduced summer temperatures putting us at a disadvantage heatwise from the beginning as we enter into winter, and then add El Nino and ENSO, and it may be a time of tribulations.
But the good news is I think, that bulbs are exactly the sort of thing that have been honed by millennia of climatic variations, to cope effectively with such extremes of temperature. Not so sure about the South African/subtropical ones, but we may hope.
I envy you your flowery flourishes. My allotment is downright ugly. I never have enough time or energy to spend there, never quite have enough materiels to tidy up edges and make it shipshape. I think you have started off on the right foot, adding in some decorative bits from the word go; if I had done that, perhaps mine would look a bit less...starkly utilitarian.

[Feral007]

All sounding good. Will be a riot of colour as well as food soon.