Wellington Fields Allotments - Hixon. |
|||
More Plough Field Allotments at Amerton
Gardening
Tips
Unusual
& Old
Unusual Environmental Issues And Going Green.
|
Waiting For The New Season. When I had my allotment at Amerton, I bought 5 root wrapped fruit trees from one of those discount shops for just under £5 each. They were all common, but named varieties of Cooking Apple, Desert Apple, Pear, Plum and Cherry. As Amerton allotments were forced to close I dug the trees up and potted them. Unfortunately, they were not labelled properly and have lost their labels in the meantime. The Cherry was planted behind my greenhouse leaving the other 4 trees in pots behind the garage all summer. Recently I decided to plant a fruit tree on my Hixon allotment and wanted to plant the plum, because if it was planted next to a stone path it would benefit from the lime in the path that would help it to make the stones in the fruit, whereas apples and pears do not like limey, or alkali soil. The problem was, although the apples had fruited, only the cooking apple still had fruit on it to identify what it was, so it was a one in three chance that the fruit tree I planted on my allotment was what I wanted to plant. Only time will tell if the tree turns out to be the plum and suitable for the spot. My intention is to train the “Fruit Tree,” with its branches spreading outwards and not upwards, in the same way that I have done with reasonable success on a Plum, Apricot, Quince and Peach at home. This way it should not get too tall and cast too much shadow over the rest of my plot. Planting the tree in the Winter months will give its roots a chance to settle in a little before the new leaves make demands on them for food and water. This will in turn mean that the tree should not suffer a shock and have die back as the Summer comes. All of the fruit bushes that I intended to plant in my plot have also gone in and I have already planted some Winter vegetables such as Garlic, Broad Beans and Cabbages before the snow came. The Jerusalem Artichokes I am still harvesting, but some of the smaller ones are being re-planted as the old plants are being dug up. |
|