Distance between fruit bushes?

[d000hg]

We just made a new bed the whole length of our small garden... about 7m. I'm thinking to alternate small shrubs and fruit bushes - currants, blueberries and gooseberries. space is at a premium so can anyone offer a guideline on minimum and ideal spacing for such plants?

[KarlB924]

I recently put my gooseberries in with roughly 45cm spacing, so they should form a nice hedge eventually. 50cm or more is probably better for fruit bushes, but I'm trying to make a border that people won't want to park their cars against

[d000hg]

i just found another thread recommending more like 5 feet, but i assume that is for optimal yield... like you i want them to fill up the space with greenery but i was thinking 2 feet would be absolute minimum...

[Scarlet]

Mine are planted 4ft apart and to be honest they could have done with a little more room. I've a hedge that is easily 3ft wide.

[sparrow100]

Mine are about a metre apart. Underplanted with strawberries to maximise cropping. They are all heaving with flowers this year.

[Aberdeenplotter]

i just found another thread recommending more like 5 feet, but i assume that is for optimal yield... like you i want them to fill up the space with greenery but i was thinking 2 feet would be absolute minimum...

Remember you need to be able to get around the plants to prune them and also to pick fruit. 5ft sounds about right to me. if you think about it, that's only 2½ft from the centre of each bush

[Alison]

Mine are 5 to 6' apart, seemed a long way to start with but now that they are established I would find it difficult to get round them for harvesting etc if they were any closer and I would have though that air flow would be a problem too.

[d000hg]

Are currants, blueberries and gooseberries going to be roughly the same size?

[Aberdeenplotter]

Blueberries won't grow to be as big but the others need roughly the same space. Gooseberries are prickly so giving them plenty space is a must

[AllInContainers]

I cheat. Everything I have is in pots, and if it starts fouling it's neighbour, I shift it

[pigletwillie]

In three to four years your currant bushes will be large. I planted my allotment fruit cage with 4 ft spacings and I wish I had gone 5-6 ft. It's not all about optimum cropping but also plant health and stress. To be honest though if space is at a premium I would go for less bushes giving more fruit as you can then under plant giving you more overall.