Anyhow, last year was a little strange to say the least, so I will admit I wasn’t able to get any allotmenteering done at all. We kept up the growing of runner beans in the summer along with the fruit and herbs that are permanent allotment residents, but that was about it.

So 2021 is going to be a year of “resetting” – gradually getting things under control, taming the things that should be cut back, feeding the things that are looking a little sad and generally getting the plot back up to speed so that 2022 can be a productive growing year!

Fruit

The fruit will all be in need of attention, from cutting back the strawberries (that can only really happen after fruiting, so that’s a job for this autumn), cutting the raspberries down to ground level (possibly that can still happen up to April, although it depends on what growth there is on each cane), and tying in the blackberry bush (I’ve got a new “Gripple” kit to try out for that, in the hope it will be more successful than vine eyes that didn’t screw completely into the wooden supports!).

The rhubarb however seems to need very little extra attention, and just happily thrives on semi-neglect!

Herbs

The herbs tend to be left alone most of the time, but the fennel probably needs last year’s growth cut down to ground level. I should think the mint has taken over the flower section of the plot by now, seeing as that had already escaped from its pot a few years ago!

Flowers

I will admit my flower patch tends to not get too much attention other than cutting back the dead stalks after flowering. The flowers work well to attract pollinating insects, and also help to conceal the compost bin!

The main thing that remains to be seen though, is how much of this can actually be achieved this year, and what the plot will look like in 11 months’ time…

Mention the word “raspberries” and I’m sure most of you are already picturing a big bowl of fresh red fruit, maybe with a healthy helping of clotted cream to go with it? That’s true (and very tasty!), but what if your raspberries are looking more like this…

The first year we noticed this, we wondered what on earth we’d done wrong, thinking it must have been a watering problem, or lack of feed! But no, that kind of nasty dried-up edge is a classic sign of Raspberry Beetle (which incidentally can also affect blackberries, although thankfully they don’t seem to have discovered my blackberry bush).

The beetles lay eggs on the raspberry flowers from May to mid July, but it’s the larvae  / grubs that do the damage – they feast on the fruit (causing that dried up look), moving into the middle of the fruit, before dropping into the soil when they’ve eaten enough. 
They then spend the winter in the soil before starting the whole cycle again in the spring. 

Because of the seasons the grubs are active, they mainly cause a problem for summer raspberries… mine are autumn raspberries, so only the first month of crops are affected – once we get to the second week or so in August, the problem stops until next year.

It’s surprisingly challenging to get a photo of a Raspberry Beetle grub, but I did find one that was co-operative (well, as co-operative as a pest can be!):

I’ve not yet found a way of solving this problem… I read some things which mentioned chemicals (I try to stick to organic methods, so chemicals aren’t an option); and somewhere else had suggested “loosening the soil in the autumn so the birds can eat the overwintering larvae” – that would work if we actually had birds visiting the allotment, as the deer and badgers don’t seem interested in eating those grubs!

This year we’ve tried to remove any raspberries which were affected, and those berries have gone in the garden waste bin – I don’t want to risk composting those berries in case the grubs survive (I had mint growing in my compost bin after all, so I know it’s probably not quite hot enough in there to kill everything off) and just cause more of a problem next year!

Have you ever encountered Raspberry Beetle? And if you have, how did you manage to resolve it / work around it?

Don’t forget to check out the Propagator’s Six on Saturday  and read through the comments section for more blogs to check out!

Want to read more (really?) – check out the RHS page for a bit more info on those pesky Raspberry Beetles