The veggie patch is a bit of a mess. I cleared the old salad bed, removed the remains of sweetcorn, runner beans etc, then made a start on tidying up the soft fruit bed along the fence.
Over the last year, the entire soft fruit bed became overgrown with brambles and covered in leaves. I just wasn't well enough last year to control it all. So I spent a couple of hours yesterday cutting out the brambles and sweeping the leaves clear. I found using a normal pair of pliers was the easiest way of pulling the thorny brambles out.
The bed is covered in weed sheeting to control weeds. This has been a major help in keeping it all under control. Dirt had blown all over the sheeting and I'd used a few piles of soil on top to help hold the sheeting down. Some brambles and soft fruit had taken root in this soil, so I've cut them out and pulled them up.
Some raspberry canes have reached 8ft tall. These are canes that grew last year and will carry fruit this year. There are now about 16 loganberry branches from the one plant. Some branches reach out about 15ft. I have fixed wires to one fence panel, but will have to fix them to the adjoining panels too.
I did have about 20 strawberry plants in the bed, planted through the weed sheeting. At least 12 still survive. I've found the 3 gooseberry bushes among the brambles and have cleared them again.
A couple of loganberry branches spread out into the veggie beds and took root. I've pulled these up and will plant them into pots of compost and see if they take. If so, I know people who would love loganberry plants. I've had gooseberry bushes do the same in the past, but when I tried planting the rootings into pots, they just died off. Fingers crossed for better luck with the loganberries!
I still have more clearing to do and of course, it's time to sow more seeds. The weather's warming up, got to get cracking!
The loganberries:
The raspberries with strawberries in front and loganberry runners behind:
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