Last year, we planted a large number of soft fruit bushes on Dad's alotment. Today, I started the task of digging them out and transferring them to our allotment to replant them. The reason for this is a decision to refocus our main allotment on growing fruit and keeping poultry. We will use Dad's allotment to grow most of our vegetables, though some will be grown on two beds on our main allotment. They will have cages over them to protect them from the hens, ducks, wood pigeons and rabbits. The other factor that helped us to decide to refocus what is grown where is flooding.
We are probably overdoing our concerns but last year was such a bad year for the weather that, even though this year looks as though a repeat of the wet, miserable temperatures and rain is not on the cards, fear of them will linger on for ages to come. Crop yields in the mud of the allotment last year were so poor that we are not going to leave ourselves vulnerable like that again, even though we are putting in extensive drainage. Dad's allotment is better drained and did not have any flooding or mud last year. That's better for veg growing. The soft fruit on the other hand survived the wet conditions (and the hens) in better shape.
The photo above shows some of the transplanted soft fruit bushes. They have been arranged so that they will in effect form a hedge along the side of the main path into the allotment. There will also be room for us to net them if needed.
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