[debih]

We have an area of the allotment that currently has gooseberry (two types), redcurrant and whitecurrant bushes in and we usually plant our lettuce in the same bed.  But this year we have decided to turn it all over to fruit bushes.

We have just taken out a years subscription to a magazine and their offer was to get three free blueberry bushes, which are weaving their way to us now.  We were only going to keep one of the bushes and give the other two to school for their garden but someone has told me today that you need to keep blueberry bushes in pairs.  Is this true?   

Do blueberries need any special sort of soil condition?

We are also going to plant two black currant bushes in the same spot - again, do they need any specific soil conditions to grow?

And any hints and tips about planting fruit bushes will be gratefully received - the other bushes were already there when we took the allotment over three years ago.

[Malturn]

They must have ericaceous (acid) soil and they do far better if you have more than 1 bush. ie if you have three bushes you will get far more than three times as much fruit as if you only had one bush. (its something to do with pollination )

malcolm

[peapod]

blueberries require ericaceous soil (i.e. more acidic than usual), and for this reason are usually better grown in pots/containers.  They are pretty easy to care for, but you do need two different varieties to cross pollinate to get good crops.  They will fruit with one single plant, but nowhere near as well.

Blackberries are also easy to care for, they like a good organic soil (digging in plenty of compost for example) and like plenty of water. Plant keeping the crown level the soil line and spread out the roots to encourage spreading out.