Fruit Bush Pruning

[BrokenOphelia]

I am pretty new to gardening and only have a small area to work in. The flat I am in has a yard and we bought some fruit bushes and huge pots to house them in. They are doing well and we even had some unexpected fruit this year althought I had been told they wouldn't fruit the first year. We have both Blackcurrants and Blueberries.

I have been told with fruit bushes that you need to prune aggressively after they have fruited to encourage growth in the next year. My problem is I don't know how much to prune off (I don't want to take too much and kill the bushes) and I don't know when the best time to prune them is. I am also worried about what the best way to keep them over winter is; do they need a sheltered area, do I need to keep them protected against frost etc? As you can see I am fairly clueless, so far I have just bundled in and everything has work out with most of the things I have grown (appart from when my potatos got wet rot) but I really want to keep these bushes alive as I am willing to invest my time and care into making them a sucess. Any advice would be well welcome

[rustylady]

Hi Ophelia, welcome to the Vine. Could you add your location to your profile please? Then it will show up on your posts and save us having to keep asking where you are. As to pruning fruit bushes there's a link here BBC - Gardening - Gardening Guides - Techniques - How to prune soft fruit for blackcurrants, and one here BBC - Gardening - Gardening Guides - Techniques - Grow blueberries for blueberries.