Ask Leonie
If you would like to ask a garden design or planting based question do get in touch on gardens@mailonsunday.ie
Q I have lots of currant bushes – red, white and blackcurrants – but have problems with them every year. The bushes are too large and I don’t know when to cut them back. Once the fruit is ripe the birds devour them within a few days. I would love to make jams and cakes but never have enough fruit. How do I get the best out of them and do I need to mulch them?
Marilin, Co. Leitrim A It is a serious pain if you don’t get to enjoy the currants after waiting for them to ripen. Red and white currants are easy to grow and need similar treatment. They grow their fruit on spurs of old wood (two to three years of growth). With white and red currants (and gooseberries) cut the oldest wood around March. Shape the bush into an open framework with a slightly hollow interior. Also, cut each branch by about a third to encourage growth.
You can cut the vigorous blackcurrant right down to the ground and it will produce lots of new shoots that will fruit even in year one. However, they will be at their best in year two, when the crop is most abundant. Prune blackcurrants after they have fruited in summer. They like more light than the other currants and propagate easily.
A light mulch will do for red and white currants but blackcurrants need a good heavy mulch with added compost every spring to be at their best. It is also best, as with trees, to keep a circle around the base free of grass. Cover it with bark mulch.
Surround the plant with netting hung on a simple bamboo structure or just loosely on the bush to stop birds stealing the currants. If you have a number of shrubs side by side you could build a nicely designed feature to put the netting on. Perhaps some arches made up in steel and connected to form an arched netting area. Then as an added design touch you could plant a few Group 3 Clematis such as the stunning purple ‘Jackmanii’ or the white Group 2 ‘Henryi’ which are delicate enough not to block too much light yet make the arches look really pretty.