Firmly planted ... and watered

Besides weeding, watering, sowing, pricking out and clearing over the past couple of weeks we have been doing quite a lot of planting. One reason that we have been holding off is that the ground is just so dry even well down.

The other reason was I was hoping all the perennials that I have ordered would arrive before I started planting. I still have a couple of lots of plants to come but the plants were begging to be released from their pots and so I had to bite the bullet and get started. Hopefully when the other plants come I will have left appropriate spaces for them.

To combat the dryness each planting hole was filled with water before filling in which should provide water where it is needed to the roots and encouraged them to branch out into the surrounding soil.

Also still growing in pots were the fruit and nut bushes that came from Victoriana Nursery.

The cobnut and Japanese wineberry have been planted on the plot again in water filled holes. Both seem to be coping well.

Our plot neighbour Joe is a bit of a fanatic when it comes to growing things from seeds found in the fruit he buys and he had previously given us a cobnut that he had grown. This is of unknown origin so we don’t really know what to expect but as I was told that the Kent cob from Victoriana was semi self fertile it seemed a good idea to plant them together and hope that they get along. Our original cobnut wasn’t ideally situated for this, so after being well watered it was dug up and planted alongside the newcomer. So far it seems not to have noticed that it has moved.

The Japanese wineberry has been planted alongside a newly created pathway so that we can easily pick our crops of berries (hopeful as ever). It will be given something to climb up shortly but is presently managing to stay upright helped by a cane.

As I mentioned in an earlier post we decided to plant a thornless blackberry to grow up the same structure as the wineberry and I asked if anyone had a recommendation for which variety I should choose. Tanya from Allotments 4 You commented to say that she liked Loch Ness and so we set about searching for this at our local nurseries – no luck! There were plenty available online so as we were impressed by the plants we received earlier from Victoriana we decided to order from them. It wasn’t the cheapest supplier but we felt we knew what we would be getting. Another good quality plant arrived and is now planted on the plot. So Tanya the test now is will ours taste as good as yours?

I intend to plant a border of alpine strawberries along the front on these two plants but again the dry conditions puts me off moving the plants.

That leaves the kiwi Issai – we have decided to keep that in a tub in the garden so we can keep a closer eye on it. I was going to plant it alongside the kiwis already planted on the plot as a way of pollinating them but apparently Issai won’t pollinate other varieties so it stays in the garden where we will have a ready supply of fresh mini kiwis (hopeful again!)

It too needs some sort of support structure maybe some sort of obelisk! Maybe not quite as impressive as those that Bilbowaggins has a Bag End – I think they’d be a bit too big for the pot!

Talking of our plot kiwis – one of the plants is covered in buds whilst the other has absolutely none!

So it looks as though we will have a pollination issue again. Unfortunately the kiwis were planted when we were less organised and so we aren’t sure which varieties we planted or which plant is male and which female. We think one is Hayward which should be female but we don’t know whether it’s this one that flowers or not. Anyone know how I can tell a male flower from a female. Does the female have no pollen or stamen?

We have also planted up some of our vegetables using the hole of water method. We planted some broad bean plants and the cabbage plants that had managed to survive the mouse attack.  All are so far doing well!

Just as a footnote a couple of unhappy events on site:
It appears we are being plagued by a thief – some plot holders have had their greenhouses raided – young vegetable plants being grown on have been stolen. We hope that this isn’t going to become a trend. It is really upsetting to have plants that have been nurtured taken especially when young children have grown them. When young plants can be bought fairly cheaply at garden centres! We are fortunate in that we can grow our plants on in our garden greenhouse but I really feel for those who have become victims.

Unhappy event number two may serve as a reminder or warning to other gardeners. One of the plot holders on site was clearing away parsnips that had started to regrow and has suffered severe burning to his arms caused by the sap from the leaves so be very careful when dealing with parsnip tops. A similar problem can occur if you use a strimmer on a sunny day wearing shorts. Sap from the grass can react with the sun and also cause burning to the skin. Apparently sap from celery and carrots can also cause burning in sunny conditions.