Spring 2025 - Progress on the Fruit Garden

This Spring has been very sunny and the blossom on the fruit, including the apples and pears has been amazing.



Blackcurrant Mitchells
Worcesterberry - Native American plant

Whitecurrant White Versailles



























































I have been working on the restoration of the fruit garden stock, mostly by looking after the 50+ cuttings which successfully took from last Winter's propagating sessions.  I have had to pot up the individual cuttings which were sharing a pot, as I often put 4 cuttings together, thinking that they would not all take.  Many of the names of the varieties are unknown, so they are named for their provenance.













Redcurrant 'Slees'

Gooseberry May Duke 

 Gooseberry Leveller


I have Blackcurrant 'Mitchells', Redcurrant 'Sports Centre' and Gooseberry 'Wheatland (Front)' and 'Wheatland (Red)', for example.

 



Gooseberry 'Dolton Red'


This winter, there was a fair amount of damage by bullfinches to the gooseberries, stripping the fruit buds off the stems and leaving them bare, so I have done some remedial pruning.  In May I started pruning side-shoots to encourage next year's fruit buds. 







Although I did buy UV-stabilised labels last year, my permanent marker has turned out to quickly fade.  So I have just bought a UV-stabilised garden marker pen and have been re-labelling them all. I would like to know which varieties are which, even though I already have several Unknowns.

 







Because the Spring has been dry, the pots have needed regular watering. I am now bedding some pots into the soil to help this Summer, and have planted some of them at the ends of my vegetable plots, to grow as single cordons or to move later.  Soft fruit can be grown in 10 litre pots, but again that would require a lot of watering to keep them fruiting.

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