Building a soft fruit cage

Currently the Fruit team are creating a new fruit cage measuring 30 m by 12 m for growing gooseberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and whitecurrants.

We began in September last year by spraying the area to kill couch grass and then covered the site with mypex black woven plastic for 12 months to ensure that all plants died. We have learned that when growing perennial fruit crops it is best to get rid of perennial pernicious competitors such as couch and bindweed before planting, otherwise they will be there among the roots for ever.
This autumn we have heavily manured the site with well rotted cow manure and are adding about 15 tonnes of dry hay which will rot down to improve the fertility of the area. Then we will add some blood, fish and bone which is a fairly slow release fertiliser and some eggshells to supply calcium.   

We are using 2.4 m posts x 73 mm round for the basic structure inserted into the ground every 2.5 m apart. This was done by digging holes 30-40 cm deep with a post digger and then ramming the posts down to 50 cm with a post driver. The holes were then filled with stones and compacted with s sledge hammer and heavy metal pole. Battens attached the posts together along their tops and provided a place to attach the netting to. Then we will add the bird protection netting. For this we are buying a role 50 m x 12 m and will cut it down to 34 m so that we can use it to cover the roof and the ends of the cage. We will be using another role 2 m wide for the sides. The netting will be stapled on to the battens at the top and stapled to boards running from post to post along the bottom. The roof netting will be supported by metal wires running across the tops of the posts, and there will be 5 rows of two posts in the fruit cage which will support the roof at 5 metre intervals.

A single gate will be installed and probably a combination padlock to discourage non-members of the project from taking fruit.  We will then re-cover the area with mypex. This will be done as soon as possible to stop any seeds germinating and growing. The mypex will pass around the posts and extend  about 50 cm beyond the cage boundary to prevent couch grass from growing in. It will be taped together. Holes will be cut through the plastic to plant the bushes and then resealed with the

We plan to water the ground to accelerate the breakdown of the manure and hay before returning the mypex to cover the area. When the manure has broken down we will cut holes into the mypex and plant into it.

I plan to post costs when the cage has been completed, and also a planting plan, but estimate that the total cost will be around £550 for the fruit cage.


Anna and Caroline are wearing masks while spreading the hay to avoid inhaling fungal spores

Planting a hedgerow and fruit trees

We tended to concentrate on growing vegetables in our field during the first year because we could not afford to buy fruit trees.

A few of our members gave some soft fruit bushes and herbs which were planted in the area adjacent to the tool hut and social area in the first year. The ground was cleared of weeds first, but persistent weeds such as couch grass, convolvulus and nettles were not eliminated and these have persisted among the roots of these perennial fruit bushes. We have also learned that if fruit bushes are planted they should be planted into clean ground where perennial weeds like couch grass and nettles have been removed. Otherwise you will be forever fighting a battle against them. We have learned that the best way to approach this is to peg down mypex interwoven sheeting on the ground where the fruit is to be grown and leave it for around 12 months or more to kill off any perennial weeds. Then clean stock can be planted into a clean area.



Bank behind the pond before clearing



Bank after clearing

A gift of 450 trees from the Woodland Trust, plus the addition of about another 50 apple tree seedlings in November 2010 enabled us to plant the Foragers hedge to the North of the pond and the Pondside orchard to screen off the Farm yard from the fields. The soil in this area is very gravelly so growth has been slow, but, after five years we are harvesting small quantities of elder flowers and berries, rose hips, sloes from blackthorn, crab apples and apples. As yet we have not enjoyed any hazel nuts, but we have not given up hope.

The fruit trees go in

In March 2011 we began planting young apple trees into an area which had been rough grassland, but had then been bulldozed clear on a sloping South facing bank just behind the pond. These young apple trees, grown by the author of this blog, struggled for two reasons. First they were planted behind the pond which had been created several years early for gravel extraction. The bank behind was also very gravelly with little soil in it. Any topsoil which had developed was destroyed by the bulldozer while it was grading the site. When we planted the small fruit trees we added plenty of organic matter, but this tended to be leached out fairly rapidly. The bank soon became covered with plants from the previous coarse grassland; nettles, burdock and teasels which vigorously competed with the fruit trees for nutrients and there was insufficient manpower at the time to control the weeds. It is well known that fruit trees grown in a meadow lose around 30-40% of the nutrients available to the trees; ours growing on this gravel bank and competing with coarse weeds probably lost more. We didn't actually start a Fruit group within the project until the fourth year, so it was left to one or two keen people to try to manage the trees.

The bank where the pondside orchard was planted



The forager's hedge behind
the Pondside orchard

A patch of rhubarb was planted adjacent to the compost bins in the second year. The ground was cleared of weeds first, but persistent weeds such as couch grass, convolvulus and nettles were not eliminated and these have persisted.



Pressing the apples for juice or cider.

The apple scratter breaks up the apples
into small pieces before they are pressed