THE GOOD LIFE

AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST Sally Coulthard

Ideas and advice for would-be smallholders in the country and the city

My children can strip a berry bush like a plague of locusts. I don’t blame them. There’s nothing better than soft fruit stolen straight from the branch and popped into the mouth. Gooseberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants – it always amazes me that such sweet, succulent ‘superfoods’ thrive in the gentleness of a Yorkshire summer. I shouldn’t be surprised really, knowing that some of the most delicious raspberries are grown even further north, in the dramatic Perthshire hills. Most of our soft-fruit bushes are dotted around the farm, shoved in sheltered corners and left to get on with it.

Many of these plants remind me of Yorkshire folk – hardy, tough and best when left to their own devices. But you’ve got to be quick to reap the harvest. It’s often a race between me and the wild birds to see who gets the berries first. I don’t tend to net bushes – I don’t like to see birds, butterflies and other large pollinating insects getting caught up in

Sally and her family share their plot with sheep, horses, chickens and the odd peacock. Maintaining a vegetable garden, orchards, fields and a wild pond, Sally has perfected the art of smallholding on a budget (sallycoulthard.co.uk)

LOCATION

The Vale of Pickering, North Yorkshire

PLOT SIZE

12 acres

EXPERIENCE

Sally has been running her smallholding since she moved to Yorkshire 11 years ago

the plastic mesh and, in my experience,

I end up getting just as tangled. I also think it’s important for me to share nature’s bounty with the wildlife – there’s enough for all of us.

That said, I started three dedicated soft-fruit beds this year. I wanted to spice things up a bit and try some different varieties, ones that might need a bit more attention. Using new sleepers, I built three 2m x 2m squares, just one sleeper high, and then back-filled them with any growing medium I could throw together – in this case, a ripe mixture of topsoil, mushroom compost, well-rotted horse manure and spent coffee grounds. I’ve planted some interesting experiments – honeyberries,

It’s a race to the berries between me and the birds

pink blueberries, giant blueberries, red gooseberries, tayberries, golden raspberries and kiwi berries. The last of these is more of a climber, but it should produce tiny kiwi-like fruits that you eat skin-and-all.

The plan is to let the plants get established and then, if they romp away, invest in some walk-in fruit cages. The mesh should protect the fruit while allowing bees to come and go as they please. I’m also a bit superstitious about investing too much in the fruit bushes before I know they will take. Knowing my luck, the more I pamper them, the less fruit I’ll get. It’s that old Yorkshire spirit again.

FOUR RARE VARIETIES TO TRY

HONEYBERRY PART OF THE HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY, HONEYBERRIES LOOK LIKE LARGE, ELONGATED BLUEBERRIES AND TASTE JUST AS DELICIOUS. NATIVE TO SIBERIA, THEY’RE UNBELIEVABLY HARDY (THEY CAN SURVIVE IN TEMPERATURES OF -40°C) AND CAN COPE WITH MOST SOIL TYPES. READY TO PICK EARLY SUMMER.

JOSTABERRY A CROSS BETWEEN A GOOSEBERRY AND A BLACKCURRANT, THE JOSTABERRY IS RARELY FOUND IN SUPERMARKETS BECAUSE IT CAN’T BE PICKED BY A MACHINE. DELICIOUS COOKED, IT CAN ALSO BE EATEN RAW. READY MID-SUMMER.

TAYBERRY A CROSS BETWEEN A RASPBERRY AND BLACKBERRY, THE TAYBERRY (RIGHT) IS LARGER THAN A REGULAR RASPBERRY AND SWEETER. IT ALSO CAN’T BE GROWN COMMERCIALLY. THE TAYBERRY CAN COPE WITH VERY COLD WINTERS AND MOST SOILS. READY MID-SUMMER.

WHINBERRY ALSO KNOWN AS BILBERRIES AND WHORTLEBERRIES, THESE LOW-GROWING BUSHES WON’T TAKE UP A LOT OF SPACE AND WILL GROW IN CONTAINERS, BUT THEY DO NEED ERICACEOUS SOIL (WITH AN ACID PH). IT TASTES LIKE A BLUEBERRY. READY LATE SUMMER.