Fruit Bushes

[jnkimjones]

My plot has got too big to handle. I hope to plant fruit bushes, but would like to plant something special. I already have Raspberry....anyone got any Ideas, plus when is itt the right time to plant?

Cheers

[oldie]

Maybe try some of the alleged "wonder" fruits. gojiberry, aronia, honeyberry and vitalberry. The only one I'm familiar with is the goji which seems to be pretty trouble free.

[jnkimjones]

Sounds interesting.....but could I make a tart out of them. Fed up of smoothies....too healthy!

[Mi Jardín]

I bought a tayberry half price at the gc a couple of weeks ago, that seems to be doing well, keeping it watered and I added feed when I planted it.
They're supposed to make beautiful jam!

[Sue]

Hi
I'm impressed with my blueberries, their third year and am getting a really good crop and the birds haven't touched them. Just need to plant them in ericaceous soil though, but well worth it.

And you don't mention strawberries, well worth growing? Can save a fortune and grow varieties not sold in shops.

I have a redcurrant bush and mixed the fruit in with other berries so didn't really do much with them but an abandoned allotment has huge redcurrant bushes and I picked pounds of them this year and have now discovered how much I like them. More than blackcurrants I'm surprised to say. So these are high on my list for the next bit of space.

No rhubarb? Trouble free and the first crop of the year so always worth looking forward to.

I don't know what the varieties are but dessert gooseberries, my neighbour used to grow these and they were enormous, you could scoop them up with a spoon, very soft and sweet.

And nuts, some hazels grow as quite small bushes

Check out the Agroforestry Research Trust site, they have some very weird and wonderful fruits from all over the world.

Most things will go in over the dormant period, November to March so you've plenty of time to think about what to do.

best wishes
Sue

[sarraceniac]

I grow loads of fruit. If you have a full lottie to play with then the sky is the limit. Sue has some good ones there and if you want to go really esoteric, then you could try old fashioned fruits like quince and/or medlars. Both make fantastic jelly and 'cheese'. Tayberry is lovely but the best raspberry-blackberry hybrid is supposed to be loganberry. I also have a mulberry but that takes 10 years to fruit.

[Lovage]

I's a great idea to grow more fruit- high value output for quite low imput
Plus you could plant most through a weed supressing membrane and reduce work still further

Red, black and white currants are all easy and high yielding when established, great for tarts, jams and jelly plus wonderful summer pudding with some of your rasps

Gooseberries are easy and gave a huge yield this year. They are IMHO the most underrated fruit and are really so versatile

With all of these I would choose varieties carefully from a good supplier and also go foe early and late varieties

Good Luck