Basics for growing fruit

● When growing any fruit, choose a sunny site with good, fertile soil. It should also be well-drained and water shouldn’t lie on the surface in winter. Sun is necessary to ripen fruit, so a spot that gets sun for at least half the day is essential. The sunnier the spot, the more fruit you'll get and the sweeter it will be. ● Most fruits aren't fussy about soil type, but raspberries and blueberries need acid soil and apples and stone fruits, such as plums and cherries, may need dressings of lime in very acid soils to help fruits develop. If your soil isn’t suitable for all the fruits you want to grow, many can be grown in pots. ● Most fruits, except strawberries, are long-term crops so good soil preparation is essential. Dig in lots of organic matter before planting and add some grit when digging if the soil tends to be heavy or wet. Most soft fruit (summer berries) can be grown in raised beds which is a way around the wet soil problem.

● Always buy the best varieties you can find. Avoid cheap, unnamed bushes.

With careful selection you can buy varieties that stretch the season, have better flavour or resistance to common diseases.

● An important consideration when planting fruit is how you're going to protect it from birds. Blackbirds will eat all soft fruits, including currants and gooseberries, raspberries and hybrid berries and they'll snaffle red plums and cherries and apples if they blush red. They’re usually the culprits when you find apples full of wasps – the blackbirds made the first peck! If you intend growing a lot of fruit a fruit cage is sensible. If growing a few in pots then covering in fleece at ripening time may do. Because birds know the fruit are ripe because they’ve turned red, white currants, yellow raspberries and white strawberries ‘may’ escape...

● Most soft fruits get larger than you might expect so give them room at planting time. Most soft fruit should be planted about 1m (3¼ft) apart to give room for growth and picking.