[Agatha]

This week I have had to make the very sad decision to give up my veg patch.  Apart from the veg, it has blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries, raspberries, tayberries and rhubarb.  Depending on which books you read, it is either possible or impossible to grow any or all of these in containers! 

Does anyone have any practical experience of growing any of these in containers?  I have a large patio area round the house, several large pots (a couple of feet deep or larger) plus a few old dustbins etc which could be turned into deep planters, but I don't want to waste a lot of time and effort on anything that will only produce one or two berries!  So if anyone has tried any of these in pots in the past, I would be grateful for your opinion. 

[surbie100]

I have blackcurrants, gooseberries and rhubarb in large pots. The do ok, but would probably be better producers if they were in the ground.

[Agatha]

Thanks.  I will try that - they are the ones I am most concerned about as they are my favourites.  I know I won't get the same sort of crop as I would in the ground, but it's pots or nothing now, so I don't have much choice!

[surbie100]

Mine are in 42L trugs - by the sounds of it, your planters are larger, so you should get better results than me. 

[Yorkie]

How big are the present bushes?

How old are they?

I wouldn't try to grow raspberries in pots but the others might do OK.  You'll need to keep on top of watering and feeding far, far more.

[crh75]

Would it be feasible to take up a few sections of the patio so you could plant directly into the ground?

[Agatha]

The gooseberries are quite small so I think they should transplant ok.  The currant bushes are larger, but I have a couple of layered branches, so think I may grow these on in containers instead of moving the larger bushes.  I've found another home for the raspberries and tayberries - one book did say it was possible to grow them in pots, but I am very sceptical!  Fortunately, there is no immediate rush as the landowner is not planning on clearing the area for a couple of months.

I am not allowed by my landlord to make any changes to the garden, so growing in the ground is not feasible.  It's a shame because I have an enormous lawn & I hate mowing, so would love to reduce the size of it & have fruit instead, but it's not an option. 

Moved my Timperley Early last week as it was already starting to sprout -  I wanted to dig it up with as little root disturbance as possible so it was quite a job lifting it into the wheelbarrow and then into the container, but it looks quite happy and as the container is an old water but with a split on the base, it should have enough root space for a while! 

[Agatha]

Am so happy!  My Timperley Early is doing almost as well as usual in its pot - slightly smaller crop than usual, but probably because I had to chop a chunk off to fit it into the pot!  The Victoria is actually growing better than usual - think it gets a little more sun now than it did in the ground.

[ptarmigan]

Possibly too late for this reply. But I've  grown raspberries in large containers (1/2 barrel size) - they do v well for 2 years - tail off in the 3rd as they get congested then get replaced with new plants.

[Agatha]

Thanks.  I will consider that for another year - my raspberries didn't survive the veg patch being flooded all winter!