Putting in a fruit cage

[British Red]

So, as many of you no, we try to improve our place a little every year. Something that has been on our wish list for a while has been a "walk in" fruit cage.


We have reviewed sizes, sites and options. Our initial thoughts were to build one out of wood. Subsequent investigations showed that it would be cheaper to buy one than buy the pieces. It then proved to be cheaper still to buy aluminium - which came with a ten year warranty compared to the five years for wood. So aluminium it will be.


We did the usual thing we do with pegs and string, working out size, orientation, relationships to other features, access etc. It is important for example to be able to get a tractor in to flail cut that hedge you can see so we must maintain wide access on that side.


Pegged Out Area by British Red, on Flickr


We also needed to leave a good access path to the raised bed for rotovators, wheelbarrows and the like


Proximity to veg beds by British Red, on Flickr


It ended up that a 9 x 4 meter size fits our ever dwindling space best. In the shot below, you can see how it relates to the "mini orchard". To the right is where I am putting in the chicken run.


Half Moon and Spade by British Red, on Flickr


I set to with a half moon and spade to dig out the turf by the string marker


Digging Out by British Red, on Flickr


The spade shown has a longer than normal handle and is a gods sent to those of us with aging backs. Picking up the turf still gets old though. I have some fleece lined cloth gloves with a rubber coating that are warm and waterproof but allow some feeling in the fingers. They are amazing when it hovering around freezing and you are grubbing in the soil. Even so by the time I was half way round I was ready for a cuppa.


Halfway Round by British Red, on Flickr


I managed to get all the way around by the time the sun was setting.


Edge Marked by British Red, on Flickr


Now I just have to hand dig out four hundred square feet of grass . It would be a lot easier if I hired a turf cutter - but then we would spend money that is better spent on the cage itself. So I will spend a couple of weeks digging a "strip" out of the square every time I have an hour to spare.


It does amuse me, when grubbing in the mud in gloves that all those people who tell us how "lucky" we are to live like this, should try spending all day in unheated barns or digging in mud and hard frost


More as it happens.

Red

 

[Mesquite]

If you're going to lift turf in that quantity over time it might pay to get yourself a turfing iron Hugh, it'll cut out the bending over

As for the fruit cage, I'm looking forward to seeing this progress along with your other plans

 

[British Red]

Not a bad idea that!

 

[Mesquite]

It's a great bit of kit for lifting turf

Once you get the knack of using it you'll spend more time barrowing the turf away than you will actually lifting it.

There's a second hand one in as new condition on ebay at the moment Linky

 

[Harvestman]

What happens to the turf that you lift? Just curious. Always nice to see your progress.

 

[British Red]

It will be rotted down and used to fertilise growing areas...composted turf is good stuff!

 

[Harvestman]

It will be rotted down and used to fertilise growing areas...composted turf is good stuff!

Thanks. I knew you wouldn't waste it.

 

[Robson Valley]

Can you make the case for laying down a few rows of mushroom spawn,
cover that with the turf for another crop that grows itself?

 

[British Red]

Well, over the last couple of weeks, I have been digging out turf between gales, rain, hail sleet and, this week, snow.

This is what greeted me this morning.

Ground Frozen by British Red, on Flickr

The joy of stamping the spade through hard frozen turf for several hours has to be experienced.

As you can see from the barrow and lumpy terrain, I have been emptying three tonnes of home made compost onto the bed to improve the soil

Turf Nearly Gone by British Red, on Flickr

The frost does not compare though with the afternoon thaw. The mud is liquid and sticky

Muddy Hands by British Red, on Flickr

Muddy Boots by British Red, on Flickr

Even the path to the composters is an inch deep in liquid mud. I will have to fix that tomorrow with straw or the chainsaw chips we keep for the purpose.

Compost Area by British Red, on Flickr

For those that think homesteading is pottering about the garden, its really wearing workboots because your Grubbs got soaked inside yesterday, wearing fleece lined waterproof gloves and still being not able to feel your fingers. Its stripping to your long johns in the drive so you don't tread the Somme into the kitchen.

When we post pictures of our fruit canes in the Summer though, someone will say we are "lucky to have them" .

As someone on here once said, the harder you work, the luckier you get

 

[Harvestman]

Homesteading, warts and all.

 

[British Red]

Well, I fixed the path

Path Fixed by British Red, on Flickr

I used a large oil drum that I put all the chainsaw chippings in We really do use every part of the tree!

I've put a thick layer of home made compost on (about 2 cubic metres of it) and raked it out

Compost on by British Red, on Flickr

Then used the rotovator to break it up and turn it in

Rotovate by British Red, on Flickr

Raked it all smooth

Rotovated and Raked by British Red, on Flickr

Added a layer or pelleted manure

Pelleted Manure by British Red, on Flickr

Then rotovated and raked again

The soil is ready now, so next steps with be to build the frame of the cage

Red

 

[British Red]

Made a start on assembling the cage today. If you ever try it, its at least a two man job!


The first job was to assemble the roof and lay it on the plot. Everywhere the lines cross there will be an upright.


Assembled roof on ground by British Red, on Flickr


A yellow marker peg marked each post site and then the roof was broken down into "squares"


Points marked and roof separated by British Red, on Flickr


A foot deep hole was dug where each upright needs to go. Its really helpful to have a depth gauge with a very visible line


Depth Gauge by British Red, on Flickr


We marked the depth on each upright as well for reference


Depth marked on leg by British Red, on Flickr


When four uprights had been put in place, the roof of that square was put in place


section loose fitted by British Red, on Flickr


Then it was just a case of "repeat till complete"


Roughly assembled by British Red, on Flickr


Thats the basic structure in place. Next job is to go over it a piece at a time with a long level and true it all up, concrete each leg in place, drop the foot plates, and add knee struts and finally hang a door, At that point the basic structure will be firmly installed and we can move onto the internal support wires for the canes

 

[Mesquite]

Looking good Hugh... and an extra bonus there's just t little bit less grass for you to mow as well

 

[British Red]

I have always thought lawns highly overrated....I can't eat grass, it isn't pretty.....whats the point in more than a path of the stuff?

 

[Mesquite]

I can't eat grass, it isn't pretty.....whats the point in more than a path of the stuff?

So the things you and I like to eat can eat it for us?

 

[Toddy]

Mobile rabbit caging…..deals with the lawn problem rather neatly, and it makes dinner too if one likes that kind of thing or better yet, fix in those spiral ground anchors and tether a goat to one, just move it around the place. It'll eat it's fill, give you milk and young that will grow on to make you another few dinners

I hate deturfing just about the most hated job in archaeology. There have been times when I'd have cheerfully committed murder for one of those wee jcb type diggers

I grow a lot of fruit, but I have very, very little trouble with birds trying to get to it before I do. I'm presuming you do have bother if you're going to all this effort ?
It's a very tidy looking effort though

M

 

[British Red]

Wood pigeons will take every berry in the place Mary, blackbirds too. Everyone pitches in with pigeon control but it seems that for every one you shoot, two come to the funeral? Still, pigeon sage and onion burgers are lovely!

 

[Toddy]

Ah, the secret to the wood pigeons is to grow a hedge of ivy. They absolutely adore the ivy berries and leave everything else alone to get to those. If you have elders and geans coming up in the same hedgeline then they'll fruit too and keep the pigeons happily occupied too and safely stretch out through the fruit growing season. Much easier for them to clamber around that a blackcurrant bush
Means you get well fed pigeons for pie and still have your fruit crop.
I do spot them eyeing up my fruit, but I pick timely and so far (touch wood) no problems. Blackbirds and bullfinches are around, but again, I've been lucky and they haven't taken the cultivated fruits.

How do I know about the ivy?...because I have to pick those berries while minding marauding pigeons when I want them for dye.

How many bushes will you get inside your cages ?

M

 

[British Red]

We have ivy for Britain, whole buildings covered in it, but 200 pigeons is not unusual in a flock!

We will be putting in thirty odd raspberry canes of multiple types and seasons, eight blackberries on primocanes, a dozen or so blueberries and a tayberry. We are well served already for strawberries and gooseberries, raspberries and cherries.

 

[Toddy]

I complain when there are eight or nine of them…and the cushiedoos are even less in numbers. There's one pair just now that occasionally visits the bird feeder, but that's it.
200 of them would guzzle the bushes bare in no time.

Have you thought of keeping a hawk ?

M