Friday, August 24, 2012

In a jam

Way back in 2010 I planted out a small tayberry plant that was well overdue a permanent home. My first mention of that small plant is here.

It kind of sat by the fence for a year minding it's own business and showing just the merest hints of growing. Towards the end of 2011 it grew a bit more and then a bit more again. Three very prickly stems reached further and further out until the only way I could keep them under control was to rig up an amateur stake and wire type arrangement against the fence using some plastic coated wire and screws usually reserved for hanging net curtains. The long whippy stems, by now each a couple of metres, were tied to the wires in a 'Loch Ness monster' formation (if that's not an official fruit cultivation term, it certainly deserves to be).

In the springtime the shoots were covered in blossom and then a bumper fruit crop followed. Rather than eating the fruits fresh as they ripened, I saved them in the freezer until they fruiting period was over so I could make a big batch of jam. Five takeaway containers full gave me 3 jars of very tasty, slightly tart tayberry jam!





After consulting my RHS 'Pruning and Training' book, I've now cut out the stems that fruited, and am in the process of tying in the 3 rope-like stems that grew during this year. They will be my fruiting stems in 2013.

4 comments:

  1. We have a tayberry too which is a monster and I treat it in the same way as I do the blackberry. By the way I have a blackberry called Loch Ness which is very unmonsterous as it doesn't have thorns!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't believe the speed at which it grew once it got going! The harvest was certainly worth braving the thorns for though.

      Delete
  2. I'm trying to visualise your loch ness monster formation as I do like the idea of a monsterous berry plant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have 2 horizontal wires (about 70 cms apart) fixed to the fence poles. Then each stem is fastened to the top one and then the bottom one in turn, weaving them up and down along the wires. They take up a lot less room than if I tie them in a straight line - and allegedly sharply bending them encourages flowering and fruiting!

      Delete