Winter pruning in the soft fruit orchard

soft fruit jungle 1Oh yes, the ugliest before shots you will ever see.  I sometimes feel like I’m furtively showing you dirty pictures. Psst, wanna see some weeds?

The soft fruit orchard lies just in front of the potager and is gazed upon by anyone sitting under the grape vines. Or walking by.  I never mind the jungly look when the jostaberries are in fruit.  It’s just a matter of walking past the bushes and munching as you head to the pool.

But with autumn and now winter there is no hiding the fact that this jungle needs taming.

Step forward our guest gardener on the farm this month. Yes, I have managed to sneak in another Nicolas day before Christmas. Which is just like Christmas really. soft fruit jungle

Especially when he wields a sharp pair of secateurs. Or loppers in this case. We had a talk about the problem of the unpruned blackcurrants, whitecurrants,  redcurrants and jostaberries. And the fact that the wretched plum suckers have snuck up in between the bushes.

soft fruit pre weedAnd then there was the small matter of the weedy soil below.  This area is about the size of a small London garden. So when it looks dreadful it really makes the whole area look an eyesore.

For eight years now I have been trying the suppress the annual weeds that spring up here with either a thick mulch or fabric and a mulch, or just endless lawn clippings.

Nothing works. That is because this is the area close to the septic tank. And yes, that old adage of the ‘grass is always greener over the septic tank’ is true.  The brambles romp, the nettles spread, and the couch grass can’t believe its luck. Lush jungle growth for weeds and fruit.

So today was attack the soft fruit and come up with a solution.

But before the big reveal here is a note about weedproof fabric. It works. But only in one way. weedproof fabric

Yes if you put the fabric down it will suppress the weeds underneath.  But you can not stop weeds germinating on the upper side.

It looks like a couch grass (chien dent) carpet. And it weighs a bloody tonne.  I had to get help pulling up the fabric and then we set to yanking off the weeds so the whole fabric could be dragged away.

I won’t be using that again.

soft fruit pruningsI had to stagger in for a strong cup of tea and a painkiller at lunch and when I came out, Nicolas was about ten minutes ahead of me. Ten minutes of makng a brew meant I missed the big moment when he set to with the loppers.  I came out to find a forest of branches lying all around the orchard.

I tried not to yelp. We had been discussing the fact that jostaberries don’t like being pruned. But each bush has now been reduced in size. Radically.

So it will be a nervous time next July to see if they are sulking or still producing a mad volume of fruit. But they needed hacking back. So even if they aren’t stellar next year, I’m sure they will settle down and fruit the year after that. plum suckers

I also wanted to take cuttings for new shrubs. Particularly the blackcurrants and jostaberries.

So it was a mad scramble in among the pile to get the young growth of the bushes.  Lucikly the blackcurrant branches smell divine; no mistaking this incredible fruit.  I took only branches from the 2015 growth.  But I was lucky that Nicolas managed to uproot entire jostaberry bushes that had been growing quietly in among the undergrowth.

soft fruit cuttingsI have set all the cuttings in the rich soil behind the hedge and near the compost heap. Now delightfully denuded of matter.

And the solution to all this bare soil?  First up I am creating little squares to create proper cordon sanitaire around each shrub.  That is where I will pile on properly chipped branches (when I get around to it).

And then the rest of the area (including a very thin layer of soil now covering the top of the septic tank lid) will be sown with red clover.   Yep, a green manure that will grow thick enough to hopefully smother the worst of the annual grass.  And also flower in spring, and hopefully attract bees.

I will have to strim it back a few times a year. soft fruit cuttings planted

But I think this is going to be more attractive than just endlessly piling on lawn clipping and hoping to smother the jungle of unwanted weeds underneath.

Now where is my weeding mat?

artur on mat

 

 

 

 

 

shade garden squares