GOOSEBERRIES

Gooseberries can be used in a whole variety of ways in jams, pies, fools, tarts and jellies. It is grown very well in this country and many an allotment holder will certainly find space for a gooseberry bush within its plot. It can also be grown as a cordon. It also lends itself to growing beautifully in a pot, so where space is at a premium, it is a perfect buy.

Gooseberries thrive in semi-shade or full sun, but do need protection from cold winds and late frosts. A well prepared manured spot will be perfect for your gooseberry bush.

Growing Tips

• Gooseberries thrive if given a sprinkling of potash every spring. This encourages fruit rather than leafy growth. Wood ash from indoor fires can also be used, by liberally sprinkling around the base of the plant, this will then soon reach it way down to the roots.

• Buy two or three year old plants. Plant between autumn and spring for bare rooted plants. Gooseberries bought in containers can be planted at any time.

• Bushes should be planted 1.5m (5ft) apart and single cordons 40cm (15”).

• Prune in winter. Like redcurrants you are trying to achieve a goblet like shape. Shorten side-shoots to two buds, removing any thin or spindly shoots. Try to create a bush with an open centre. Take out one or two of old, dark branches to encourage healthy new shoots.

• New bushes can be raised in the same way as redcurrants from cuttings of the current year’s growth. In autumn, using a well ripened shoot, trim the soft wood just above a bud and take some wood off just below a bud, producing a cutting about 25-40 cm long (10-15”). Rub over all the buds except the top four then plant in a trench, spacing them about 12-15cm (5-6”) apart. Firm in the soil around the cutting. They should go on to produce roots and healthy young plants.

• Like most soft fruits, the gooseberries will need some form of protection from birds, either with a fruit cage or covering the bush with some netting

• Harvest fruits as soon as ripe as they do not keep well.

• Gooseberries can be plagued by sawflies that lay their eggs at the base of the bush. When the larvae hatch they proceed to eat as many of the leaves as possible, stripping a good sized bush in no time. The pupae hatch in April. If you spot any eggs, knock them off as soon so you can to be ahead of the game.

BLUEBERRIES

Blueberries are a native of North America and in recent years their popularity has increased. Much publicity has been afforded them praising them as a “super food”. They are particularly high in Vitamin C and antioxidants, which are believed to help prevent cancer. So it is claimed that they have some health benefits.

By growing them yourself you can indeed save some money on the shop bought ones, which can be expensive. One of the great things about Blueberries is that they are perfectly happy in a container, making it an ideal patio plant.

Blueberries are an attractive plant with white delicate flowers in summer and attractive autumn foliage, adding colour and shape to the garden.

Growing Tips

• Blueberries are well known for their acid–loving nature. If you know you have an acidic soil then they are fine planted in open ground. If grown in a container then you will need to use ericaceous compost on a top layer of broken pots or gravel to provide drainage. You could grow a few blueberry bushes together in a raised bed, ensuring that you add ericaceous compost.

• Blueberries like company, so growing at least two bushes together, ideally three, will increase pollination of the flowers, producing a better crop.

• Blueberries need a lot of space to become very productive, use pots at least 45cm (18”) wide.

• Blueberries like to be kept consistently moist but never waterlogged. Use rainwater wherever possible as this has a lower PH than tap water.

• Pot grown plants will need a monthly feed with ericaceous fertiliser or a seaweed feed. In addition mulch twice a year with ericaceous compost.

• In order to prune blueberries you will need to understand its growth habit. Fruit is produced on the short side shoots that were produced during the spring and the previous summer. In a mature bush the aim is to produce a balance of three types of wood: one third new, one third from the previous year, plus one third of older stems.

• Blueberries won’t need pruning in the first two years, except for removing old, dead or crossing wood. Three year old plants should be pruned in late February to March. To prune take out old spindly growth or branches that are crossing. Then remove the twiggy growth at the end of last year’s fruiting branches to a healthy, upward facing bud low down on the branch. These buds will grow next year’s fruiting stems over the coming season. Lastly take out up to a third of the oldest, woody stems. 

• The berries are grouped in little clusters that ripen at different times. This staggers the harvest, so pick the berries as they ripen. Berries are ready when they are completely dark blue and have a whitish bloom on the surface.

• Blueberries reach maximum productivity at about seven years old, producing as much as 6kg (13 lbs.) of fruit.

BLACKBERRIES

The blackberry is without doubt a fruit that most people will have eaten either from cultivated blackberries or those picked growing wild on a hot summer’s day. They are prolific producers and easy to grow. They lend themselves to being trained against a wall or grown between two posts on wires.

They like most soft fruits are excellent in jams, puddings, desserts and sorbets. They are best eaten freshly picked but they do lend themselves to freezing.

Growing Tips

• Choose a spot where they will be in the sun for at least part of the day. They will produce fruit in any soil but do best in slightly acidic soil. Limey soil should be enriched with leaf mould or well-rotted farmyard manure.

• Blackberries are sold in containers so they can be planted at any time of the year; however autumn to spring is the optimum time for planting.

• The best way is to train blackberries is on wires, strained between posts or alternatively on a wall or fence with vine eyes.

• Blackberries bear fruit on the previous season’s growth.
  

• There are two methods of training the canes. The first one is to simply pull one season’s canes over to one side, then train the following seasons canes to the other side. Alternatively fan out the fruiting canes and lead the new canes up the middle and tie them temporarily up the top wire.

• At the end of the fruiting season cut down the fruiting canes to ground level. If you bundled the new growth together on the top wire train them to replace the canes that have been cut.

• Feed in spring with a general fertilizer.