So, I don’t talk much about my fruit garden. I do have one. I planted my first blackcurrant bushes almost four years ago. Then…. I forgot I had them and I planted another one this year.
Sigh.
Maybe it’s because the fruit garden is located at the back of the house that it hasn’t received enough attention from me in the past couple of years. Maybe it’s because it’s up a little incline. Honestly, I think it’s my drive/ panic about creating a welcoming and comforting front garden to the house that has made me ignore the fruit garden a bit.
Shame on me! I know. I do try every now and again but, like most things, there’s a story behind this lack of focus.
My designated fruit area is on a level higher than the house itself, and is somewhat exposed. Part of the approach to the area is quite boggy, even in the dry spells we sometimes experience (rare dry spells) in this region. The Hubs tells me that there used to be maintained field drainage ditches in this area, but these haven’t been maintained in a while. This boggy area is a problem, but it’s not one I’m prepared to tackle myself. Not this year anyway. I don’t really think I want to do that manually either – not by myself at any rate. But, that is an issue to be dealt with at another time.
Around the time that I planted the original blackcurrant bushes, I was also given a tiny wild raspberry bush. Being enthralled with my burgeoning fruit empire I planted it in the same area. Then life happened and everything in that area got ignored. It’s sometimes easy to ignore these things in the winter when they’ve died back and have lost their leaves. You just don’t focus on the plant really. Everything just meshes together in the short days of low light quality and deluges of rain and fog. Honestly, it’s understandable that I ignored my (ahem) fruit empire for some years, isn’t it?
I started to pay some attention to it this year. It suddenly occurred to me that I could embrace the poor drainage and nearby boggy area by planting some willow tree cuttings in early spring. Moist soil is needed for these cuttings to root and establish themselves, so what better area than next to (not in, mind you) the boggy patch? While the area I’m talking about isn’t boggy at all, it is (for the most part) moist as the seepage from the bog trickles down to this area. Eventually, the willows (being relatively fast growing trees) would provide some enclosure to the area, making it less exposed and providing a windbreak. Let’s forget the fact that willows aren’t fruit trees… I was a genius, this was a totally win-win situation!
This is my fruit empire, my orchard. Can you see the willows? Can you spot the blackcurrant bushes? Very well hidden aren’t they? Honestly, I don’t know what is going on with the willow cuttings. A couple months ago some looked like they were doing decently enough.
The raspberry is a little scary at the moment. It has grown EVERYWHERE! It’s a very pretty plant with such pretty flowers, though. In the back of my mind I have this idea that somehow I’ll be able to work my magic and carve out some beds around all these magnificent things I’ve planted, and have it look super orderly. Of course the vision has a lovely, rustic wooden fence that the raspberry clambers over, creating the impression that the fence has been there forever! Ha! I have no idea how I’m going to wield my hoe-pick or a strimmer underneath the viney growth of a thorny-stemmed fruit bush to carry that vision off!
Anyway, I’m ruminating on the approach that I need to take to this. Thought you might like to have an inkling of what the next project might be!
One thought on “Project – Creating A Fruit Empire”