What are your favourite fruit bushes?

[SalviaOfficinalis]

I want to dedicate a small flower bed (3m) to growing soft fruit.

It’s south facing with a brick outhouse wall behind the flower bed. Clayish soil but not too wet as it’s in a partial rain shadow due to outhouse.

Hoping to fit 3 fruit bushes in. Recommendations for compact, preferably thornless, high yield fruit brushes would be much appreciated.

Thinking more raspberries/blackberries/hybrids rather than currants.

Oh yes I second that! I have loads of woodland strawberries as I have fond memories of picking them as a child and wanted that for my children. Neither them nor husband can be arsed with them of course! But I love picking a few for my breakfast every day. Plus the plants stay green over winter when everything else looks dead or gone.

Does anyone grow greengages? They are quite a rarity in shops round here and I love them.

I have a green gage and a plum tree. The gage are slightly sweeter and juicier.

also have a quince in a pot…only first year so not sure how it’s going to do.

for Me it would be raspberries every time with limited space. Love them fresh.

My blueberries in pots did better than anything else last year. It was the first year for most things admittedly but I was very happy with the harvest. So much so I've added another this year.

My raspberries were awful, other than a potted one from b&q which was ok. Strawberries not bad but a lot were eaten by things. Black and red currants very small harvest, no gooseberries at all.

My priorities would be raspberries and cherries based on what I like to eat, how expensive they are and the fact they're usually ruined before you get them home from the supermarket.

I grow things that are hard to find or expensive in the shops - usually I suspect because they are a pain to pick. Sometimes, like mulberries, because they have too short a shelf life to be sold commercially.

I have wild strawberries covering the whole of the area under my apple trees and therefore as ground cover elsewhere too. If I want to plant something, I heave out the strawberries. That means I always have lots available, and I freeze lots - they freeze well, unlike garden strawberries. At this time of year we eat them on our breakfast oats.

They’re also excellent cover for young frogs

raspberries/blackberries can be a bit of a thug. but there are great varieties available.

look at what you actually like.

I just planted a gooseberry bush (love them and they are really expensive to buy) and a black currant.

how about rhubarb? can look very ornamental.

goji berries?

We have a red gooseberry which I like (don't like green gooseberries).

On my allotment have a huge number, too many, blackcurrant bushes. Trust me, one blackcurrant bush is enough for most people's needs. If you know someone with a blackcurrant (or any currant bush) cut a couple of sticks off, stick in the ground, and they will grow.

I’ve just bought a second blackcurrant bush after my first one last year only grew about an inch. Reading online I think it’s because I didn’t cut it down to 1inch after planting. The RHS says I should do this with my new bush, should I really?! Worried about killing my bushes.

I don’t think I cut my down that harshly, just pruned it after planting. But it didn’t really produce anything in the first summer, they need a couple of years to get going.

I doubt it only grew an inch because of the pruning. Was it watered? I wouldn't normally water a blackcurrant bush, but last year was very dry and it might have struggled. Was it fed and mulched?
About 3 years ago, I planted 3 blackcurrants. Two thrived and one sort of...sat. It turns out that it was in a part of the garden with poor, thin soil. I moved it to another area and planted herbs (which love poorer soil) there instead. The blackcurrant is doing much better now, and it growing with enthusiasm!

@BigglyBee thank you for your response. It’s in a newish raised bed and I did water it regularly. The blackberry bush next to it died so I think they don’t like the raised bed, I’m not sure why as the tomatoes and courgettes did well. It was very hot last year and I think with a lot of peat free compost the bed dries out quickly. I don’t know whether to move it into the ground. We have acidic sandy soil.
I want to put raspberry bushes in the same bed so fingers crossed they don’t die too!

Try a jostaberry, big fruits, dark like blackcurrant, sweet, but with a slightly gooseberry flavour. Mine has coped better against greenfly and wasn't eaten by the cabbage whites like my other gooseberries. Productive and fast growing compared with my blackcurrants and gooseberries.

Someone asked what to do with redcurrants. I have one bush and it produces loads. I freeze loads, make sorbet, and make redcurrant jam. I had no idea how good the jam was going to be, but it is fantastic. Nice with roast lamb too. The frozen ones get mixed with frozen raspberries and put onto porridge.

Autumn raspberries are easier than summer ones. They don't get so tall so you can get away without supporting. (If you're lazy like me). And in the winter you just cut everything down to the ground. Joan J is a good variety.

I love my raspberry bushes, I have summer ones and autumn ones so we get fruit for longer. Also loganberries are amazing for jam. They do spread though but the jam tastes so good I forgive them.

Time for another silly question:
Can strawberries be grown in patio pots?

If so, when is the best time to plant them?

Now is a good time to plant strawberries. Don’t have to be deep pots. Feed and water them well. If you know anyone with strawberry plants you can probably get some for free. Elsanta isnt y the tastiest.

strawberries do well in pots.

Yes strawberry plants can be grown in pots, but they need a lot of watering to keep them alive. I had strawberry plants in beds and pots last year, the ones in pots all
withered and died (my fault I was neglectful!) Ones in beds all still fine.

I bought a loganberry plant in Morrisons on Wednesday. I think it was only £2.25. I first picked up the autumn raspberry but when I saw the loganberry one I changed it.

My dad used to grow loganberries when I still lived at home decades ago, the berries were huge and so sweet. I think I bought the plant for old time's sake.

I will put it into a large pot rather than the garden and see how it does. I'm not that experienced with soft fruits in the garden although I do have a blueberry plant, bought last year. Hoping for lots of berries on it this year.

any plant in a pot needs watering.
the bigger the pot the better, but if you are on a balcony you have to be mindful of the weight. wet soil weighs a lot.

a (fruit) bush needs a pot of at least 20l.

Hmm. Courgettes aren’t native to Britain, nor are tomatoes - they’re from S America. Blackberries are native, as are raspberries. The traditional commercial raspberry growing area is around Blairgowrie in Scotland. I’m not sure I would expect courgettes and raspberries necessarily to flourish in the same conditions.

Loganberries are large plants. They’ll easily produce 3-4m long shoots in a season. If you can possibly get it into the ground it might be happier.

Ah, right, that might be a bit awkward then. I'll have to rethink that or give the plant away. Should have bought the autumn raspberry after all. 🙄

Yes we have a blackberry hybrid (not a tayberry or loganberry, looks more like a boysenberry or similar) & it's huge - it covers the whole of our back fence & has stems that can be 4-5m long, not to mention it roots wherever it touches the ground. It's a great plant, the fruit is amazing & the bees etc love it but it needs to be in the ground I think.

How about a grape vine? We have one against a south facing wall and we get an amazing amount of fruit from it.