Gardening Tips

Your monthly gardening tips for indoors and outdoors

SOFT FRUIT

Currants and gooseberries tolerate a wide range of soils but they grow best on a rich, free-draining but moisture-retentive loam.  If grown on thin sandy soils, plants, especially blackcurrants, may be short lived and produce poor crops unless plenty of well-rotted manure is dug in and a heavy mulch applied to prevent excessive water loss from the soil.  Currants dislike acid soils, while gooseberries prefer more acid conditions.  Grow bushes in an open sunny position sheltered from strong winds. Earlier flowering varieties of blackcurrant and all red and whitecurrants and gooseberries should be grown in positions that are sheltered from spring frosts and the early morning sun to prevent the flower buds being damaged.  Although usually grown as free-standing bushes, red and whitecurrants and gooseberries can be trained against a wall or fence as double or single cordons.  Blackcurrants, however, cannot be grown in this way because of their differing and less compact habit.   Where garden space is limited and as an alternative to training, incorporate a few black, red or whitecurrant bushes into an informal hedge with other shrubs.  The bushes will serve a dual purpose, and any crop will be an added bonus.  Control weeds by applying a mulch or covering the ground with plastic sheeting.  Plant bushes in the autumn or early spring.  Blackcurrants should be planted 2.5-5cm (I-2in) deeper than the previous soil level mark on the stem.  This will encourage new shoots to be produced from below the soil.  Prune back hard to within 5cm (2in) of the soil level immediately after planting.  Red and whitecurrants and gooseberries are usually grown on a short 'leg' or trunk, and they should be planted in the garden at the same depth they were planted at the nursery.  To achieve the best possible crops, regular feeding will be necessary.  Harvesting Blackcurrants is easier if the fruiting wood is cut off and taken indoors, where the fruit can be picked. Thus harvesting and pruneing are done in one simple operation.  The harvesting and pruning of gooseberries are more difficult because of their thick, prickly growth.  Cut back one-third of all fruited wood to nearly ground level each year.