Soft fruit for allotment

I want to get some soft fruit for the allotment, basically to fill up a bit of space.

I already have a row of autumn raspberries, but was thinking about currants, gooseberries or blackberries.

I know the currants and gooseberry are usually grown as a stand-alone bush, but I assume blackberries are not. I always see them in rows. is this correct ?

I noticed at Lidl today they have fruit bushes at £1.99 each, or 2 for £3. Even if they don't do too well, I think they'll be worth a gamble.

Are their varieties any good ?

I grow my gooseberries as fans and espaliers (fans are the norm), trained on post and wires. I prefer to grow them this way as it is much easier to pick and to remove gooseberry sawfly if it rears its head (I used to get them but not since underplanting with spare garlic). I aim for large desert berries so thin quite hard.


Blackberries and Loganberries. I train them along a fence.

Thank you very much for the detailed reply.

I've just taken my wife to work and on the way home bought 4 blackberry plants, 2 gooseberry plants and 2 blackcurrant bushes.

I think I'll follow your advice and train them along wires ... they'll look a lot neater that was too.

the currant and gooseberry plants are like wee bushes ... each have 4 or 5 branches coming off the main stem. The blackberry plants though are just a single central stem, with a few buds on each ... each bud just about to open.

I suppose I just put them in the ground now (tomorrow) and get them 'up and away' before thinking about any pruning.

My allotment layout means they will go in rows, running North - South ... this is probably the best way, isn't it ?

Rgards !

ps Crumbles for everybody .. in a few years time

Your blackberry should produce new shoots from below ground (maybe not this year), When it produces those shoots (Year two shoots) cut the original shoot back to ground level in late Autumn/Winter. Let the Year two shoots grow and fruit the following year, while they are doing this more shoots (Year Three Shoots) should start to emerge, I tie these up together to keep them out of the way. Once the Year Two Shoots have fruited cut them back to ground level over winter then train the Year Three Shoots along the wires tie the Year Four Shoots up together and so on. I usually allow about six shoots per stool. If the shoots become too long for the width you have then make them into coils of about 2ft diameter, the bending of the shoots is supposed to encourage more fruiting.

With the gooseberries choose one stem and look for three buds about 6 inches above the ground (you can do it lower but it makes life easy for gooseberry sawfly), you want to train the shoots from one of these left at about 45 degress, one right at about 45 degrees and the other straight up. Once you have good strong shoots I would remove the other stems and any other buds on the main stem you are keeping.
In year two continue to train the left and right shoots at 45 degrees and trim any side shoots off these to about 5 leaves (these will be your fruiting spurs next year). The vertical shoot is left to continue upwards, remove any side shoots from it until the height of your next tier where you retain 3 side shoots (one left, one right, one up) and repeat the process as for your first tier. Don't keep the original upward shoot as the upward shoot for the next tier or it will be more vigorous than the angled shoots and dominate the plant.
In late winter trim the fruiting spurs back to two leaf joints to keep short stubby fruiting spurs. Shorten the new growth on the 45 degree branches by about 2/3. Once your 45 degree branches have reached the width you want just pinch the tip out, it will try and produce more shoots on these ends, keep pinching them off and it eventually gets the message you don't want it to keep growing that way, same can be done with the vertical leader when you get to the final height you want. Gooseberries apparently prefer to grow in the fan shape than as espaliers, nobody told me before I trained mine as espaliers years ago, and they don't seem to mind either.

My redcurrant pruning is quite haphazard so I wouldn't attempt to describe it here.

My fruit beds are 8'x2' and run North/South, I have two gooseberries, three redcurrants or three blueberries in each bed.

The basic problem with Aldi and Lidl plants are the varieties are unclear , which is my problem as I do like to know which variety I am buying and whether it is suitable for my area. Having said that I did succumb to buying a 'white' and 'black' grape to fill in the end of a row, four years later they did produce some nice bunches, the white is sweeter so I assume it was a dessert type.

Raspberries Blackberries Tayberries and Loganberries are all best grown using the wire and post method North and South so both sides get the same amount of suntime. I have never tried to grow Blackcurrant other than as a bush, but all my redcurrants are trained as cordons, nine in the space a mature bush would take. Three early 'Jhonken Van Tets' three 'Rovado' mid and three 'Red Lake' lates; pruning is simple, prune the new shoots to five leaves as the currants turn mid summer this allows the fruit to ripen easily. In the autumn cut the leader back to about six inches all other new shoots get pruned back to the first outward facing bud.

I am not partial to Gooseberries as I can't stand the hairy blobs and consider the bush a vicious thug. However the OH has been promising to change all that with some delicious recipes, so reluctantly I am going to try some this year, but they are getting the cordon treatment.

Agree with you there Headgardener. I hated gooseberries until I grew them myself and let them ripen properly. Heavy thinning also helps produce large sweet fruits.