Jamie’s Little Allotment: Gayton-based gardener Jamie Marsh on growing soft fruit and bare roots

In his weekly column, Gayton gardener Jamie Marsh discusses growing soft fruit and bare roots…

February may feel like the tail end of winter, but for us allotment holders, it’s the perfect time to prepare for the busy months ahead.

If you read my article last week, you will know that I have started to sow this season’s seeds. I sowed my chillies and peppers, which are still under my grow lights and hopefully starting to germinate.

I’m going to be sowing more seeds in the coming weeks.

This year I really want to focus on growing soft fruit, raspberries, strawberries etc.

Up until now, I haven’t really given much attention to them because usually they get eaten by the birds, and why wouldn’t they? Plump juicy red berries sitting there for the taking.

It’s completely my fault because I haven’t netted or caged the plants.

It’s mainly because I don’t like the look of a lot of nets everywhere, but this year, things are going to change.

I haven’t actually got many soft fruit plants in the allotment, which is daft really,

if you think about it, some of the most expensive things you can buy are raspberries and strawberries and I choose not to grow them because of the aesthetics of my plot, I’m just throwing money away.

I’ve had a lovely delivery this week - three different varieties of raspberries.

My new raspberry collection comprises raspberry 'Glen Prosen' (summer fruiting), raspberry 'Glen Ample' (midseason summer fruiting) and raspberry 'Autumn Bliss' (autumn fruiting).

I got six of each variety to try and have a consistent growing season of delicious plump fruits.

You keep hearing me mentioning raspberry canes, which is basically what they are.

They look like a dead stick with roots on the bottom, but don’t worry, that’s what they are supposed to look like.

When your canes arrive, try not to leave them in the package for too long, plunge them into a bucket of water for a few hours while you’re getting your bed ready to plant them into.

You can either dig a trench or a hole about 15cm wide and deep enough to be able to add some lovely compost to the bottom and still sit your cane in and cover the roots, firm the soil around the base of your new cane and give it a good water.

If, like me, when your new bare root canes arrive, your beds are not ready to take them, then there’s a couple of things you can do.

First is something called ‘heeling in’. Basically, dig a hole, place the roots in the hole and cover them over with soil and, like the name suggests, use your heel to just firm the soil in, in my case, I’ve just potted mine up because I haven’t got anywhere I can heel them in and my beds aren’t ready yet.

Basically, you will need to get the roots of any bare root plant in the soil as soon as possible, so they don’t dry out.

This is good practice for any bare root plant, from apple trees to beautiful roses.

When I finally plant them in their forever spot I’ll let you know.

If you’ve been in the garden or allotment let me know, I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to, or if you’ve got a question for me, email me at Jamieslittleallotment@gmail.com