Growing a blackcurrant plant - help

[seeyouinanotherlifewhenwearebothcats]

Hello all, just after some advice. I’m a total novice at gardening generally never mind growing food. I got this grow table from b&q and the blackcurrant bush. The first thing I’ve noticed is there’s no holes in the bottoms of grow table, presumably I should drill some in for drainage? What sort of compost do I need? And do I need to feed the blackcurrant or just water? Also I’d love to add a summer and autumn raspberry, would they fit ok alongside the blackcurrant? Many thanks in advance for any advice 👩‍🌾

I am also a novice, so I’m not sure I’m the person to listen to, but I would say that yes you need drainage holes. As to whether you can plant other berries alongside, see if the black current packaging shows how big you can expect it to grow – I suspect just black currant plant will fill up a pot that size.

Grow tables are great, I have a couple - but they're not for blackcurrants or raspberries. You need to put those in the ground. They will bush out, put runners out everywhere and my summer fruiting raspberries get taller that me - my black currants get fairly tall also. I would recommend getting strawberry plants for the table or growing something like rocket or giant red mustard leaves for salad (or wild rocket/land cress if you want perennials). All of these are easy to grow from seed and strawberry plants are fairly cheap to buy and put out runners so it's easy to get new plants for free. .

The table probably has holes to let the water out somewhere , you might be able to open and close them - mine both let the water out, I think though the legs. Leave it out in the rain and see if it fills up with water/fiddle about with it and see if there are any stoppers that come out or twist to let the water out.

Oh also if you're looking for recommendations then Glen Ample summer fruiting raspberries have been fantastic here. I also have Polka autumn fruiting but the Glen Ample are much better IMO. Definitely worth getting, so much fruit we can't eat it all.

I like that grow table, was it expensive?

Blackcurrant bushes get really big, and have really deep roots, I'm afraid it won't do well in that at all. It will also get really top heavy and probably fall over.

I'd plant it in the ground, and grow salad / herbs / veg in the grow table.

My blackcurrant bushes seem to thrive on neglect in a rich clay soil. The roots are pretty deep (so not one for the grow table).

Ah thank you all so much for this! As a pp said the label says height & spread is 150cm x 150cm 😬 so I see what you’re all saying. So i have grass but there’s wall all around. Does the blackcurrant and/or raspberries need full sun all the time?
@GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut it was £25.50 on clearance! Thought that was quite good!
Ok, I wanted to foray into veg so the growtable can house that 😂 (and strawberries)
Thank you @Choconut I’ll check out my garden centre for those varieties!

I agree that a blackcurrant would be better off in the ground, but just to add that there are some varieties of summer raspberries that are quite compact and suitable for container growing. I know there's one called Ruby Beauty, or if you just google "patio raspberries" others might come up. You could also consider blueberries, which a lot of people prefer to grow in pots because they need acid (ericaceous) soil.

Basically all soft fruit can handle a bit of shade. Blackcurrants in my experience need more sun than raspberries. Redcurrants also grow really well in shade.

Honestly I would dig out some grass if you have no borders and make a fruit and veg patch. Use the container for summer flowers.
Raspberries flop about and take uo a lot of space, well worth it though. A blackcurrant bush can slot in anywhere in the garden but not in a tub.

So I have this south facing wall. If I fill behind here with top soil and compost do you think the blackcurrant and some raspberries would fare well here?

Yes, that should be fine. I have 3 blackcurrant bushes and they are very big (would not fit in the grow table). They are not in a great place next to a laurel hedge but get some son and do fruit each year although nothing like as much as if I fed and looked after them better.

Just soil would be fine.

Thank you all so much for the guidance. I’ll get it planted asap

Blackcurrants are heavy feeders so I would recommend planting with plenty of compost/manure, and you will need to feed it each spring if you want it to do well. I also suggest googling the pruning instructions for blackcurrants as they’re quite specific. When you plant it you should cut it virtually down to the ground, and then each year aim to take out around a third of the oldest wood. Basically you’re trying to encourage a lot of new growth, which is where the fruit is produced. If you don’t prune it you won’t get much fruit.

I have a blackcurrant that seems to thrive on neglect and cat shit. We get hundreds of fat berries every year.

Ice, very helpful. I have done sero with my 3 - no pruning ever, no feeding so not surprisingly it is a poor fruiter.

When you say prune it back after planting, it has green leaves on the wood already, do I cut that all away?! Sorry I haven’t a clue

Ah ok. If it’s already leafing out maybe best to leave it and prune it next winter - usually February is best for soft fruit.

Great thanks so much

You could potentially grow two blueberry bushes in that table and they would need Ericaceous compost. Strawberries would work in there. Alternatively fill the table with a very fine 50/50 mix of soil and agricultural sand and grow rainbow Carrots.