Fruit Trees + Plants (from Homebase) - where to plant them?

nodwah

Don't be impressed, seriously
It's like a jungle sometimes, makes me wonder..
On consultation with my Oh he thinks it's more like 30 feet but I remember ordering a bouncy castle and we could only get a 12ft sq one on the grass. Dear husband thumbs his nose at reccomended planting distances, crams it all in, but still wins prizes at the show. Still, I wish we had a garden each!

Here's a photo from flickr of the blueberries crammed with garlic next to them and a rogue potato. We get pounds and pounds of blueberries they are really the best value plant of all - some still in the freezer from last summer thru jam fatigue.

We also have a play hut and climbing frame for the boys - they're not big fottball guys luckily, but if they want to play in the tent we can get it in the back grass but there's more room out front

I'm going to make at least one more raised bed on the sunny side this year as one of mine at the back is a bit too shaded and has been comandeered by the rhubarb fancier and I'm going to lift some of the other bushes and shift things around. Problem lately tho' , the weather's either been too wet or too icy to do much and if it's been okay for gardening - I've been too ill - star crossed gardener!

lbt_2

Hi Nodwah

No sorry ... I am still very impressed

There were no photos on your post so I am not sure what happened there :huh:

That's great to hear that I am not the only one who doesn't pay too much attention to planting distances!! As I said I am limited to pots and hanging baskets but I am more keen than I have space for!

Would love to know how you do so well with your blueberries. We bought a blueberry bush last year and it did OK, but not great. I am hoping it was because it was in it's first year. Strangely though, once the fruiting had finished and autumn came the leaves and some of the stems turned red!!! If I scratch the surface it is green underneath so I am not sure if it is healthy or not.

We also got a gooseberry bush last year ... and got a grand total of five gooseberries. I am putting that down to being a new bush too

nodwah

sorry I thought I'd put a link to flickr in there try againhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/32201574@N00/2621203958/in/set-72157603985294923/



If there's green under the bark then it's still alive, ours do lovely autumn colours in the leaves
what DH did was dig a big hole, line it with old pond liner ath has a few holes in it, fill it with ericaceous compost and plant into that. I feed them with special acid plant food and put tea bags and HM compost round them. We are never short of rain to say the least, but they like it quite wet anyway but won't like lime if you're in a hard water area.
A year or two and they will be fruiting fine same for the gooseberries. We dug all our fruit bushes up when we moved house and brought them with us and after one poor year they're back to normal.
Watch out for gooseberry sawfly - wee green caterpillars that strip the leaves overnight virtually - we're plagued with them!

PeteW

OK, well this morning, for the first time in ages the ground in frozen - but it is soaking yet (heavy rain during the night).

So.... is this OK conditions to plant my trees? And if so is it simply a matter of digging out some earth and plugging the tree in, or does it need any compost/marure etc?

Oh and does anyone have any suggestions as to where exactly to put the trees in the garden:



As mentioned, that picture is facing north-west.

I'm thinking the trees could go just to the left from the path - would that be OK? How far from the path would they need to be?

Thanks for all the help,

Pete

foreign_correspondent

I am hoping Lidl have fruit trees in again in the next few weeks - bought some in the autumn, nice strong trees, £3.99 each - want some more!!

nodwah

Sorry it's a bit late now for getting back to you..

If you put them a couple of feet away from the path then it would be a while before the roots got under it and if ther'e in the middle of your garden then you wont have them hanging over nextdoor and them nicking your fruit!!

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_september_2c_apple.asphttp://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_september_2c_apple.asp

there's a pretty clear explaination of how to do it.

The current thinking AFAIK is to dig a square hole to encourage roots to grow out the way as a round hole will just make them go round and round.

Also when you dig the hole, make a sort of mound for the centre of the roots to sit on and this will mean that the main stem/roots are not sitting in water - does that make sense?

we normally put a bit of bonemeal in the ground too and mix it up, but only like a handful.

I'm afraid it's not great to work in soil that's sodden - it's too claggy to work and also you compact it by standing on it - frustrating innit?

I feel that I haven't had the chance to get in the garden for months -either too wet or too frozen - I've still got bulbs I haven't planted, should've been in months ago:o There's a big storm coming our way so I won't get any done this weekend either!