Cane you dig it? Grow now and enjoy a mouthwatering harvest of berries and currants in 2022
Autumn is the best time of the year to plant new canes of all kinds of soft fruit and if you want a vegetable garden that is highly productive but which takes up little time or effort, then raspberries, gooseberries and currants of all kinds are your best bet.
All of these will thrive in good soil and full sun, but if one corner of your veg plot has less then perfect drainage, then blackcurrants will still do well. These will also cope with light shade, but they do need organicrich soil and shelter from strong winds. In order to keep them growing strongly you should plant them so that the junction where the stem meets the roots is positioned about 5cm beneath the soil.
If you are already growing blackcurrants then you can start pruning them next month, cutting out any old or diseased wood and then cutting around one third of the fruited branches to almost ground level.
Leave all the strong, young shoots unpruned but at no time should any of the wood ever be more than four years old.
In sharp contrast to soft fruit, celery takes a lot of effort to grow successfully. But if you have put in all the hard work then you should be harvesting this year’s crop now.
It takes approximately 40 weeks from sowing seed to lifting stems and during this time celery will have been earthed up several times in order to blanch the stems. Self-blanching varieties are available but you will have to get them out of the ground sharpish before the frosts arrive.
All celery needs good soil, a sunny site and plenty of water during dry spells but give it all the care it needs and you will have a good supply of stems for soup and a crunchy addition to winter salads.
Meanwhile, make final pickings from tarragon, drying any surplus or freezing it once blanched in ice cube trays filled with water.
At the same time, check on cuttings of lavender, rosemary, thyme and oregano that were taken in late summer, pinching out the tips to encourage bushy growth and cutting back on watering as the days grow ever shorter.