Just a quick visit to the allotment today to pop in and plant up some soft fruit. It was a gorgeous sunny day and too good an opportunity to miss for a snap like this:

The soil has taken a bit of a battering from all the rain in December/early January, but wasn’t too wet to work at least a little. And amazingly enough the onions and garlic have survived even if they’ve also taken a bit of a hammering!

So having  checked that everything had survived, and that the compost bin or large bags of compost had not gone walkabout in the gales it was time to plant the most recent purchases.   I had a moment of weakness in Homebase and ended up buying 4 soft fruit plants since there were only £5 each.  The haul stands at:

• Ribes nigrum  ‘Ben Lomond‘ – blackcurrant  – self-fertile and fruits within 2 years (harvest July-Aug)
• Ribes rubrum ‘Jonkheer van Tets‘- redcurrant  – self-fertile and fruits within 2 years (harvest July-Aug)
• Rubus idaeus ‘Glen Clova‘ – raspberry – self-fertile and fruits within 2 years (harvest June-July)
• Rubus idaeus ‘Autumn Bliss‘ – raspberry – self-fertile, fruits in first year (harvest Aug-Sep)

They’ve been popped into the bottom border of the allotment along the narrow path separating my plot from the one behind.

Productive hour or so and then time to head home!