Stefan Buczacki
between summer and autumnfruiting kinds. Summer-fruiting raspberries just will not grow well in my soil, although I’ve tried many different kinds in different parts of the garden. Autumnfruiting kinds, however, have always been successful, although personally, I find the red-fruited ‘Autumn Bliss’ immeasurably better than the yellow-fruited ‘Autumn Gold’ or ‘Fallgold’.
Finally, a reminder for anyone replacing raspberries or any other soft fruit plants this autumn. It’s an ideal time to plant, but you should always buy certified virusfree stock and, if at all possible, don’t plant them in the same place where the old plants were growing because the soil will be full of virus, which will inevitably shorten their cropping life.
Stefan says: There are several tall and pretty plants in your picture but I assume you’re referring to the one with the pale blue flowers. This is chicory, Cichorium intybus. It’s commonly grown as a garden ornamental but it’s a versatile plant and different varieties have been, and still are, grown for their roots which are used as a coffee substitute (a poor one I’ve always thought), and for the leaves.
The leaves are eaten in salads or forced in the dark to produce the compact, blanched and slightly bitter heads known in Britain as chicory but as witloof in Belgium and Holland, where they’re especially popular, and as endive in France. Chicory may not be a British native plant, but it’s grown widely here and I’m sure a bird must have dropped a seed in your garden. If you like it, I suggest you place it on your seed order for next year.
Stefan says: Yes, you certainly can, and this raises an interesting issue that I’ve been thinking about now we’re in the bulb-planting season. I used to refill my bulb pots every year with fresh compost but soon realised this was a waste of both time and money. Many people may think me extravagant because while I keep bulbs in the open ground for several years – three or four years at least and truly naturalised kinds much longer – I treat bulbs in pots as annuals and discard them after flowering when the pots are re-filled with summer plants. But because the bulbs are only being grown for one season, they’ve no need for nutrient-rich compost because all the food they require is contained in the bulb itself. So almost any compost will suffice, even if it has been used for other plants.