[londongardener]

Yet again despite being netted my yields were bad this year - this had one berry

20230710_181508 by davholla2002, on Flickr

This one I have pruned very badly and there are some berries but they are painful to harvest any ideas?

20230710_181525 by davholla2002, on Flickr

This was the best so far some are still ripening
20230710_181514 by davholla2002, on Flickr

[snowdrops]

I’m training my gooseberries as a single stem cordon to aid picking .

[New shoot]

Mine were quite light on crop this year.  They are Xenia and usually laden to the point of almost being flat on the ground.  I’m not sure why because it is the only fruit crop that has been a bit disappointing so far.  Those to come like the autumn raspberries look like they are going to do well and all my fruit trees are covered with fruit.

It does look like your soft fruit is growing in grass.  That will reduce yield quite a bit.  It is surprising how much a bit of grass pulls out of a fruit bush or tree.  Mine are all grown through homemade rough compost/mulch and I usually put cardboard down underneath that.  Each winter I rake back the current layer, have a bit of a weed through and prune and then rebuild the defences.

[londongardener]

Mine were quite light on crop this year.  They are Xenia and usually laden to the point of almost being flat on the ground.  I’m not sure why because it is the only fruit crop that has been a bit disappointing so far.  Those to come like the autumn raspberries look like they are going to do well and all my fruit trees are covered with fruit.

It does look like your soft fruit is growing in grass.  That will reduce yield quite a bit.  It is surprising how much a bit of grass pulls out of a fruit bush or tree.  Mine are all grown through homemade rough compost/mulch and I usually put cardboard down underneath that.  Each winter I rake back the current layer, have a bit of a weed through and prune and then rebuild the defences.

Thank you for that I will weed better in future - I am not very good but hopefully practice will work wonders.

[londongardener]

PS any ideas of what mulch will work?

[New shoot]

PS any ideas of what mulch will work?

I would use anything you can get hold of.

Cardboard can be got from bike shops or often supermarkets if you ask. I have used wood chip before and just made sure I sprinkled a nitrogen rich fertiliser like pelleted chicken manure over the soil before the cardboard went down.

My compost mulch is rough old stuff I make from prunings, leaves and woody material like sweetcorn stalks bashed up a bit. I have some white dumpy bags that I layer it up in to rot, with as much green waste as I can spare from the main compost heaps, but it doesn’t have to be perfectly composted to work.

[wighty]

I usually get a good crop but this  year it has been lower but the bushes are getting on a bit now.  They were also even more sour tasting than normal. I'm also not going to get enough red currants to get us through the year as there is only one sprig.  I'm blaming the weather.

[AnneB]

I inherited one bush of what I think is Invicta.  It has been planted much too close to the boundary fence and is competing with couch grass all around its roots. I have tried to weed it as best I can and prune it to a useful shape each autumn - it was all over the place.
The weeds are not retreating at all.
However the yields continue to be amazing, seemingly unaffected by anything I do or not do.
Have to net against pigeons though