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and fruit to place a 5cm - 10cm layer of straw on the surface of the soil.Placing a length of seep hose under the straw allows you to connect it to a hosepipe which will stop soil splash during watering.If you are allergic to straw or find it difficult

there - the trees are blossoming like there's no tomorrow. My children and I gave my wife a small orchard for her birthday in 2000. It always looks gorgeous at this time of year, and gets better every season as the trees mature.We planted young, whippy trees - a

as they swell (which can break the skin and encourage disease). The ideal spacing between fruits is about 10cm, though I admit I often allow a bit less than that. You can snip off the excess fruits with a pair of secateurs, but they will just as easily break off

Stone me!This is THE year for fruit as far as I'm concerned. About five years ago we started our own mini-orchard with some great bare root fruit trees from a local fruit nursery. Then we added to them over the next year or two. Despite the fact

It's great. The canes on my autumn-fruiting rasperries are whipping around in the incredible wind we're having, but they're absolutely laden with fruit. It's amazing that the local bird population isn't all lined up underneath with their beaks open

It's not every year I manage it, but this year we were tipped the wink that a local chap had a good source of quality manure. And just in time to spread some around my fruit.A few years ago I had a huge trailer load of manure delivered, only

, so a gorgeous-looking plant that also produces fruit scores double points. Prunus spinosa is commonly known as blackthorn, and produces wonderful sloe berries in autumn that I use to make my sloe gin. I've still got a little left, but have made a

underwear). It takes about 1500 cocoons to make a pound of silk.In the 19th century there was the equivalent of a gold rush over mulberries in the United States. There was massive speculation and excitement about growing mulberry trees and the long

on special occasions, religiously eat my five portions of fruit and veg every day and get super-fit. And the allotment fits in very nicely with the last two of those.Trouble is that in conjunction with the month of January there usually comes a settled

-tinged blossom - far prettier than many ornamental trees.It's a real delight to see fruit trees right now as they're breathtakingly beautiful. I can't help wondering why more people don't grow tree fruit. There is the misconception that it requires acres of space