Communing with Nature – Planting Raspberries

Today it was warm and cosy in the kitchen, outside it was a cold autumnal day with huge grey east Anglian skies and biting cold. Today, however, was the day to prepare the soil for planting Raspberries. I know being outside and communing with nature is good for me – it is proven – stress levels decrease, heart rates slow and blood pressure drops when people go into or even glimpse a natural wooded area. But all I want to do is commune with my coffee (organic of course) in the nice warm kitchen.

Finally after an hour of procrastination, I go outside; it starts to rain. I have a Ferrari rotavator and this roars into action and chugs away and after a short while 100 meters of Raspberry furrow is roughly carved out between the rows of plum trees. Then it stops and I can’t get it to start again, no matter how I poke it with a screwdriver. So I get out the fork and start digging, I am really communing with nature now. I meet 23 worms, 1 millipede, 1 duck, 2 seagulls and quite a lot of couch grass roots that I pull out. I am not over-whelmed by deep and meaningful thoughts but I am hot, my back aches and the sun has penetrated the deep grey. My headache, from too much red wine the night before (probably not organic) has eased up. I feel good.

The digging has given me a chance to look at the soil – it is in good condition nice and crumbly even though it is damp, not a huge number of worms but it is winter and they go down deep. Steiner says that the life forces draw down into the soil in the winter, the soil is at its most vital in the winter. This is the time to apply the Biodynamic preparation 500 in homeopathic doses to the soil to draw the cosmic forces into the soil so in turn the Raspberries can become imbued with the cosmic forces, and then of course we eat the Raspberries and we too then become imbued with cosmic forces – or so the theory goes. My community has expanded even further and now includes the cosmos. I am no longer alone in my field. I cam imagine hundreds of thousands of bacteria and fungi working away there to carry out the myriad of functions to keep all the plants growing, well actually I cant imagine them at all it seems so amazing to me that it all happens at all.

The Raspberry plants (organic of course) are arriving next week to be planted out, on a fruit day – when the moon is in a fire sign. Next July I will sell the fruit at the farmers market in London. It makes me think of summer and heat, ummmm how lovely. Wendell Berry said “eating is an agricultural act”, the Londoners that will eat my Raspberries next summer are probably sitting in a nice warm office or home right now not very agricultural! But they are supporting me financially to farm this way and they are now a part of my community along with the worms, millipede, duck and seagulls and the cosmos in my field.

The Raspberries once planted will need mulching to keep the weeds down. I can buy plastic or use my ever growing pile of duck manure to carry out the same job. The orchard is home to 200 ducks running up to Christmas. The manure will not keep the weeds down quite as much as plastic but it is free and more environmentally friendly than plastic. As I dig I decide upon using the manure.

Finally the ground is ready for planting. The Ferrari miraculously starts again ready to go back in the shed, and I head in for lunch feeling hot and hungry and connected to my by now huge community. I realised that I did feel less stressed, and the day seemed brighter, so, as I knew, fresh air, exercise and time in nature is good for you. Even on a cold grey day.

Seasonal notes;

• Winter is the time for ground preparation and planting of perennial plants, trees, shrubs. Soil can be dug over roughly and preferably mulched so the rain does not damage the soil structure. The soil structure is important to allow the fungi and bacteria to function properly and this will help the trees to establish better.

• The first three years after planting bare root trees are vulnerable to drying out and competition from weeds. Mulching will suppress weeds, and keep moisture in the soil helping the tree to establish.

• Bare root plants can be bought from nurseries and garden centres between November and February and are cheaper to buy than pot grown plants. They also use less resources, such as peat and plastic and water to produce. Bare root trees and shrubs need to be planted before March but can be stored in the garden by heeling in, covering the roots with soil so they do not dry out.

• Pruning of fruit trees and shrubs can begin once the leaves are off during the months of December to February. Plums should be pruned in June to prevent infection from Silver Leaf.

• Many studies have found that contact with a natural environment increases healing in hospitals, and wellbeing in other settings. A recent report found that exercise in the green environment lifted and improved the mood.

Marina O’Connell
Autumn 2007
You can visit my Apricot Centre website at www.apricotcentre.co.uk