fruit bushes and fruit cage help

[lynda66]

right, trying to not make things complicated, and as my polytunnel flew across the garden last night, i guess now is as good a time as any to plant my fruit cage.

so i need to know some things (having never grown anything more than one strawberry plant)

i have approximately 15 raspberry bushes, 3 of each type (i like raspberries)
3 blueberries (yup i know these need acid soil, i'm working on it)
3 redcurrant
5 of 2 types of blackcurrant
3 blackberry
various strawberries

and am hoing to grow from seed
a couple of melon pears
dragon fruit
gojiberries
cape gooseberry
and whitecurrants

sooooo ...... how do i plant them so that

1 they get the best chance of growing decent fruit
2 they take up the smallest amount of space (so i don't have to dig up the whole lawn)

basically what's the minimum distance i can plant them apart ..... the allocated space is roughly 2.5m x about 9m but i can make it bigger if i absolutely have to

the place i have planned is south west facing, but there is a fence to the west, so the sun goes over about half of it by about 2pm, from early morning.

i have 5 of those arches for growing climbers up, and plan to cover the whole thing with netting so the birds can't get in, which also means i can suspend wires across between them as support for the plants that will need it.

so what is the minimum space needed by each plant, and how big do they actually grow??

can i plant the strawberries and other small things between rows, or will that not allow enough light?

HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!

ta

Lynda xxx

[lynda66]

changed my mind about the strawberries, in the fruit cage, decided that, as i'm not going to bother growing herbs this year, i'm gonna make the herb bed into a strawberry bed, so i have planted all the strawberry plants (16) about a foot apart all round, hope that's far enough apart?? ....... that also means i can fit more in ..... love strawberries too

still need to know how far apart the others need to be though

[lynda66]

someone must know how much room each plant needs ??????? i wanna move em tomorrow, so i can get the tunnel back up, chooks were bored today, cos they couldn't get out pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[SarzWix]

Raspberries - I have 3m long bed, which fit in a row of 6 canes. Don't forget space to walk round them too.
Blueberries, I'd give them a metre square each, and prune them if they're getting out of hand. (Depends on the variety, some are bigger than others!) Same for blackcurrants, redcurrants & whitecurrants, but equally, they can be pruned to fit if needs be. (You can prune blackcurrants by just cutting off the whole branch with the fruit on, I think.)

Dunno if that's any use to you hun? I'll get my books out tomorrow and see what I can find out if no-one comes along with better answers.

[SarzWix]

Right, Jez fetched me RHS book for me. Officially;
Raspberries should have 45cm/18inches between canes.

Blackcurrants should have 2m between bushes

Redcurrants, Whitecurrants & Gooseberries should have 1.5m between bushes

Blackberries need 2.5m, but can be tamed by training up and down the wire supports in a zig-zag

Strawberries need 45cm/18in between plants

[lynda66]

well the strawberries have a foot lol ..... i'm not moving em, the rapberries i replanted today will be ok too then ....... may have to have a rethink on how many fruit bushes i have ....... and the blackberries may end up making a hedge at the bottom of the garden ...... hmmmmmm i don't think the allocated spot will be quite big enough, might ring the lottie bloke tomorrow and see if theres any news and get 3 plots, one for the fruit, one for the 20 million potatoes i've bought, and one for the chooks and the rest of the veg lol.

actually make that 4, cos i may have overdone it a bit with the tomato sowing too

thanks hun, i did look for ages today, but couldn't find that info lol ..... may need to rethink growing any flowers this year too lol


now all i have to do is try and work out which are whick of the 2 odd bushes i planted far too close together, so i can work out how far apart they need to be ...... i really must get in the habit of labelling things

[lynda66]

has it got blueberries in there??

[SarzWix]

You'd probably get away with having them closer, but you'd have to keep on top of the pruning in the winter, and you might sacrifice a bit of the crop.

[lynda66]

pruning

[SarzWix]

For blueberries it says it depends on the variety as some are very compact, and some sprawl all over the place... Not very helpful I'm afraid.

[lynda66]

i do wish i hadn't chucked the packages out now, i knew there was a reason there was a big pile of em in the utility room ....... and i'm not rooting through chicken poo to find em in the compost.

[SarzWix]

pruning

Mmmmmm, I know.... I'm a bit wary of it too

[lynda66]

oh well, i guess i'll bung em in and see what happens, they definitely won't all fit under the cage, so i'll probably put some down the other side of the garden ...... good job i got a big garden innit lol

[SarzWix]

i do wish i hadn't chucked the packages out now, i knew there was a reason there was a big pile of em in the utility room ....... and i'm not rooting through chicken poo to find em in the compost.

Where did you buy em? Could you just look at the package of the ones they still have in stock next time you go in?

[lynda66]

Mmmmmm, I know.... I'm a bit wary of it too

i still haven't pruned the rose bush ..... mind you the leaves are still green ....... i'm good at pruning my bush in the front garden though, it's heart shaped, but i know i'm not gonna kill that lol