[Hayleynotts]

I have a small area approx 10x10ft at the bottom of the garden where I've previously grown spuds and a few beans. I was considering getting a small polytunnel but as it would only be a small polytunnel and I already have a small greenhouse I'm not really sure it would be very beneficial. There's also only 2 of us so the raised beds are probably sufficient.

Then came my light bulb moment.....a fruit patch! I already have a few plants but there in my thin border in between the non edibles. I have visions of nice little rows of gooseberries, currents, etc along with a little strawberry & rhubarb patch. I'm not sure if to bark the hole area or make wooden framed beds just to mark and separate each section.

Any advise or photos would be much appreciated.

[Goosegirl]

As fruit bushes can grow quite big, you may only have the room for one of each, plus if you planted them along one side, your strawbs would have to be on the sunny side otherwise they would get shaded by them.

[Totty]

You could grow everything you want in that area. It would mean you have to train and prune the bushes differently than if you wanted standard bushes. I grow gooseberrys as cordons, they take up little room, crop heavily and are easy to pick. If you have a solid wall or fence in the garden, I'd suggest saving more room by growing strawberrys in either hanging baskets, or window boxes. They can be taken down and put in the greenhouse over winter which will give an earlier crop of easy to pick fruit, which will hang down rather than get either splashed by soil or  ruined by pest damage. You could even train a couple of apples or pears as step overs to surround your fruit area, again they would take up little room.

Totty

[RJR_38]

How do you grow gooseberries as cordons Totty? Sounds interesting. I have some plants I put in my fruit cage this winter so still relatively small but I know it will get tight once everything grows full size