Fruit planting at Annecy Gardens

Last year we concentrated on growing annual crops & flowers that would prove attractive to insects; however, we have recently received permission from the Council to plant fruit bushes and perennial vegetables. The Council had kindly cleared an area to one side of the Annecy Garden & had also provided a quantity of spent mushroom compost.

Planting fruit bushes & shifting spent mushroom compost

Saturday was bright & sunny, a good day for gardening & we made a start on planting fruit bushes. He we are shifting some of the mulch & planting bare-root specimens of Japanese wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), blackcurrants, buffalo currant (Ribes odoratum 'Crandall'), raspberries and alpine strawberries (Fragaria vesca). These are all quite shade tolerant, necessary as the area is in shadow of buildings & other vegetation for much of the day.

We also planted rhubarb, red currants, gooseberries, and, something slightly more unusual, Chilean guava (Ugni molinae PAB 1347). Chilean guava is rather a tender plant, but the site here is sheltered, and the variety PAB 1347 is reckoned by Paul Barney who collected it, to be more hardy.

Ugni molinae PAB 1347 ~ we hope it survives & thrives at the base of this sunny pillar

 In some of the larger beds we have decided to establish perennial crops, below you can probably see an artichoke (Cynara scolymus) planted last year; we also planted asparagus and rhubarb (Rheum 'Fulton's Strawberry Surprise').

Perennial beds, the canes mark the site of the newly-planted asparagus.  Last year's globe artichoke is looking healthy.

Weeding the field beans we planted last October as a green manure

 Finally, a view of the compost bins so kindly provided by the Council & a key feature of any attempt at producing food sustainably on a domestic basis.