GARDENING:
Plant soft fruit for a bright and healthy feast all summer long
Health gurus say we should eat more berries. Goose berries, black, white and redcurrants are packed with antioxidants, vitamins and flavonoids to keep us fit and well.
But what dietitians often forget to add is that soft fruits like these are scrumptious. they’re also easy to grow. In tiny spaces, you can plant bushes in pots. In roomy gardens, larger crops will supply fruit for preserving as well as eating fresh.
You can grow redcurrants and gooseberries as cordons or even train them along a fence. Black currants need a different pruning routine and must be grown as bushes. But they can be kept to a manageable size and can be amazingly productive.
Bushes grown in the ground produce the heaviest crops. So if your soil is fertile and welldrained, plant these in full sun. If you grow berries in containers, use good potting compost.
You can plant containerised bushes at any time. Suttons ( suttons.co.uk) or Pomona Fruits ( pomonafruits.co.uk) may still have plants available. But if you need time to prepare the ground, choose plants now for autumn delivery.
Redcurrant varieties include Jonkheer van t ets, Redstart, Rondom and the popular Red lake. among blackcurrants, I like Big Ben for its large berries or the compact Ben Connan.
GREAT GOOSEBERRIES
GOOSEBERRIES are more variable. Culinary varieties such as Invicta are gathered for cooking when partially ripe. Dark red Whinham’s Industry and greengold leveller are dessert types, luscious to eat raw when ripe.
Gooseberries and redcurrants bear fruit on secondyear wood and are grown in the same way . the simplest method is to let them develop as bushes, though annual pruning brings bigger yields and plants stay compact.
New bushes will produce a few young stems during their first season. In winter, prune each to about half its length, cutting above an outwardfacing bud. the shortened stems will carry fruit the following year.
During subsequent winters, shorten all newly grown stems by half their length. Repeat that each winter to maximise yields and keep bushes compact. Do not be anxious about pruning. If you make mistakes, the bushes will still fruit.
even without pruning , there will still be crops to gather.
Gooseberries and red or white currants can also be trained on a wall. the simplest way is as fantrained plants.
For detailed help, consult a good fruitgrowers’ manual such as RHS encyclopaedia of Gardening.
PROTECT YOUR CROP
BLACKCURRANTS produce their fruits on young stems, so don’t shorten those. Instead, remove only aged stems in winter, cutting them near the base of the plant. on mature bushes, remove up to a third of the long stems each autumn.
Currants and gooseberries prefer fertile soil rich in organic matter. Spreading compost will help with yields, and placing grass mowings around plants in summer will conserve moisture.
all soft fruits — redcurrants in particular — are irresistible to birds, so protect your bushes.
there are minifruit cages for individual bushes. t ry suttons.
co.uk, or if you grow several, a large fruit cage would be better . If your cage is fitted with fine netting, you can use it for keep ing pests off vegetables, too. try agriframes ( agriframes.co.uk).
The season is getting late for sowing summer vegetables. But if you want to gather fresh, young runner beans right up until November, sow an extra row now.
To succeed, the beans must go into a well-prepared seed bed with rich soil and in a spot benefiting from full sun.
Water will be the limiting factor with late- sown beans so, as a precaution against drought, work well- rotted compost or lawn mowings into the soil where you plan to grow your beans.
Now, dig a shallow trench, spread the grass or compost along the bottom, partially back fill and then sow the bean seeds. Cover in the usual way.
It is essential to keep your crop well-watered, especially during dry periods. And any supporting canes or strings will need to be secure enough to survive gusty autumn winds.
Don’t forget that when you have harvested any legume crops — peas, beans and so on — the nitrogen-rich roots are best left in the ground to rot and boost soil fertility.
Runner beans are beautiful, as well as productive. If you grow yours in an ornamental setting, consider growing other climbers, such as sweet peas, as companion plants.
Sweet peas, if sown within the next few days, will have just enough time to produce late flowers. If you have the seeds handy, soak them for a few hours in clean water. Then sow them into the ground, close to the bean seeds.
Make sure your young crops are well-watered.