Soft fruit

Posts

• Dave Morgan Posts: 3,123

  January 2016

  Probably be rich enough as it is even after three years.

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• Tootles Posts: 1,469

  January 2016

  I agree with Dave. Perhaps do a soil test to see what it's like. They are quiet cheap from garden centres. What fruit are you going to grow? Very exciting!

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• smallswan Posts: 86

  January 2016

  Thanks. I thought perhaps blackcurrants, raspberries (summer and autumn), redcurrents for jelly, and maybe a tame Blackberry? Are the cultivated ones ccontrollable please?

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• Dovefromabove Posts: 88,140

  January 2016

  You grow them in the same way as summer fruiting raspberries, so you cut the old canes down and tie in the new ones each year, which keeps them more or less under control.

   

  
  Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• smallswan Posts: 86

  January 2016

  Never tried blueberries: I read another thread which seemed to warn that they are not self pollinating? Why pots please? Gooseberries aren't very popular in this house, but I'll give it a go!

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• Steve 309 Posts: 2,753

  January 2016

  When they all start to produce fruit (year 2) you'll need to provide extra potash, as this helps flower bud formation.  Apply about a shovelful per plant of wood (not coal) ash from your fireplace/bonfire/incinerator in early spring.  As this is alkaline and light, it';s best to cover it with leaf mould or compost which is acidic and heavier.   Ash from young shoots (such as twiggy prunings) is richest in potash.

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• smallswan Posts: 86

  January 2016

  Thanks Verdun: a use for ericaceous compost at last (I am not a heather/azalea/rhododendron person).
  
  And thanks Steve 309: a use for the wood ash.

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