[darrenwest1]

we have dont quite a bit of pick your own this year and have now decided to grow our own
i have de turfed a size of about 20 sq meters this will be raised up about 15 inches i have ordered 4 tonnes of loam soil
is there somthing i can do this year to prepare it
i have just got the alan titchmarch fruit growers book and am doing a lot of reading
the only thing i have not seen in the book is when to plant different fruits
many thanks
darren west

[DavidT]

As long as the plants you buy are in pots, then you can plant them at any time of the year as long as the ground isn`t water logged or frozen.

[darrenwest1]

my father in law digs up his small fruits and puts them in a greenhouse over winter
should i do this or is it not needed
and what should i do to the ground to prepare it

[DavidT]

What are you classing as small fruits? Currants, raspberries and the like? If so, they should stay in the ground overwinter. They are fully hardy.

[sunshineband]

Autumn is agreat time to plant fruit trees as (hopefully) the ground is lovely and warm and they get plenty of water without you doing too much.

I sometimes plant an upside down cut off plastic bi=ottle near the rootball with new tress so I can make sure water gets right down to the roots and not stay in the top couple of inches.

Hope that tip helps  

PS I've never taken any fruits except citrus in over winter and they have been fine. Oh yes, and strawberries for an early crop 

[darrenwest1]

hoping for strawberries , goosberries , red currents and black currents
we have blackberries growing wild over our back fence

[DavidT]

Darren, they will be fine left out over winter, if any severe weather is forecast just cover them with fleece.

[sunshineband]

That sounds a good combination.

Are you thinking of any fruit trees at all as well?

[darrenwest1]

not really as the fruit garden backs on to the hot tub and i dont want anything higher than that to block my iew as my daughter loves going in there when i am in the gerden but she is only 5

[sunshineband]

Now that's what I call showing off -- a hot tub in the garden  (Just jealouse really  )

Black currant bushes will grow a metre tall though...... 

so would that be OK?

[darrenwest1]

hot tub is on decking 2 ft up and it is a meter high so no worries there , thanks for the heads up tho

soil gets delivered on friday  do i need to do anything to it in preperation for planting in the autum

[sunshineband]

Don't let any weeds grow 

Seriously, if you are not going to plant anything yet, keep it well covered up to avoid a sudden green appearance.

There is time to plant something to eat in it though before then, like salad leaves, radishes lettuces etc

[Ice]

Decide what fruits you want to grow and find out if they prefere acid or alkaline soils.  Get a soil test kit from your local DIY store.  Then, get back to us and ask for advice re soil preparation.

If all else fails then just get as much compost, rotted manure as you can and use that.

[darrenwest1]

i have a good free supply of 2 year old manure so i will dig some in with the top soil over the weekend
any recomendations of a good fruit bush supplier
i do prefer to go out and buy these things as aposed to just going online
thanks for all the great advice

[darrenwest1]

i had a early finish so ive got 3 tonnes of soil today
i should get the rest on fridey