Raspberries

We received twelve bare-root raspberry canes from D.T. Browns yesterday. The variety is 'Tulameen', which fruits in late-Summer.

Nine of the canes were planted in the bed which had been prepared a few months back with a trench full of compost and each cane was planted 18" apart in a hole in which a few handfuls of Growmore had been added.

The remaining three canes were heeled-in alongside as back-up's should any of the others fail.

Sunny November

It was a beautiful day down at the patch. We arrived around 09:30 and worked through to 16:40... so we put in a full day-shift !

To start off, I made a bonfire of all the old wood stakes and, once it was red hot, added the cut down cosmos, the roots from the raspberries we cleared and all the dried weeds as we could gather.

I transferred barrow-loads of horse manure to the plot where we will be growing brassicas next year and spread a thick layer across it.  We will cover this with cardboard to keep the weeds down and encourage the worms to take it down into the soil below.

Heather had finished painting the outside of the cold frame and I then added some brackets which will keep the lids tied-down.

The last job of the day was to fit the gravel boards along one side of the central path, and this was accomplished successfully.  I will fit the boards on the opposite side over the weekend.

We were accompanied most of the afternoon by the young vixen. Apparently the fox sleeps with the pigs in their wooden huts, none of them bothered by the others presence.  She even made a few attempts to get into our shed until I shooed her away,  but she simply trotted off a few paces and stared back at me in defiance! During the rest of the afternoon she was watching us while we were working, often  just a few feet away.

Cold Frame

We bought a large quantity of 6' gravel boards from Scats and had them delivered to The Patch.

Most of these will be used to border the central path running between our two plots, some will be used to create a couple of raised beds and some have been used to construct our new cold frame.

The cold frame will have two internal compartments. The inside has been painted white, the ground will first be covered with black plastic, then with some insulation and will be finally topped with a layer of large gauge gravel, which should ensure maximum heat retention in the colder months.

The lids have been made of builder grade polythene stretched over a wooden frame and connected to the structure with hinges. The exterior will be give a couple of coats of green wood preservative and we will soon be adding some of our overwintering plants.