Rasp-bee-rry Excitement

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Finally! My 10 plants of ‘Malling Admiral’ Raspberries have shown signs of life and sprouted young plants which are reaching towards the sun. Time to put up the supporting wires and tie them in with some soft twine, so the disaster of the ‘meandering sweetpeas’ is not repeated this year. Last year I planted lots of sweetpea seeds but didn’t realise they needed to be tied into supports – what happened during the summer when I was away on holiday is easy to imagine. Unfortunately the wild mess that was created as a result squashed most of the young plants in the same bed underneath it – my beloved snapdragons, raised lovingly from packets of seeds in the growhouse annihilated in one disastrous fortnight. Never mind – beginners mistake. This year I have steered clear of sweetpeas (although I do love their fragrant flowers) and planted the raspberries against the fence – they will last much longer and give lovely succulent fruit (hopefully) next year. Maybe next season I will give the sweetpeas another go, albeit on a much smaller scale….

Of the 10 raspberry plants I planted, only about 6 seem to have survived the rather wet spring (well…wet until now anyway), Not too bad. Next year I might be able to train some of the suckers to fill the gaps. I am still intent on planting some Blackberries next year as well, and maybe a loganberry and a tayberry. And definitely a rhubarb plant for my fiancee – he loves his crumbles and tarts. It’s lovely to think that I could soon get most of the fruit I eat from my own garden…if the weather colludes. I much prefer culinary plants which yield produce (however small) to flowers – seeing the buds swell into tiny fruitlings and then into larger succulent fruit is one of the most satisfying things about gardening. We have a bee’s nest in the birdhouse at the bottom of the garden, so everything gets pollinated very efficiently. They are the furry kind of bees which look like bumblebees but are much smaller – my favourite kind, and they seem to return after a period of absence every spring. Much like the squirrels, who seem to delight in vandalising/eating everyhting I plant. Another benefit of raspberries – spines to deter squirrels. Global Warming seems miles away in my garden…

• 3 Jun, 2009
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