Redcurrants The glassy red berries need to ripen before you pick them and they can be eaten raw, or added to a fruit compote. The juice can be made into a fruit jelly or it can be added to strawberry jam to provide a redder colour and a better set.
Good varieties include 'Laxton's No 1' and 'Red Lake'. These varieties can be grown as bushes or trained as cordons against a wall in an open position. If your garden is in a frost pocket opt for a later variety like 'Rovada' or 'Redstart'. It’s also best to avoid windy positions because soft fruit tends to have easily-damaged foliage. You should get ten pounds of fruit per bush - if you net against the birds.
Planting currants and soft fruit bushes
- Use a fruit specialist as they will provide certified stock that is healthy.
- Bare root bushes can be planted in the dormant season between November and March. Containerised plants can be planted throughout the year but avoid very hot and very cold weather.
- Make a hole wide enough for the roots, spread them out making sure the soil mark on the stem stays level with the soil.
- Place the plant in the hole and back fill, firming gently with your feet. Then water well and spread a layer of well-rotted manure round the plant if possible.
- Weed the area round newly-planted fruit bushes regularly and water in dry spells in the first growing season.
- Plant each bush 1.5 m (4 - 5 ft) apart with 2 m (6 ft) between rows.
- Give your plants a balanced granular fertiliser in spring to provide the plant with sufficient potash - this will ensure the bush flowers and fruits well.
- Redcurrants are irresistible to blackbirds so you must net your bushes.
- If you are serious about growing soft fruit, consider investing in a fruit cage because bullfinches are adept at eating the fruit buds in spring.
Pruning red and white currant bushes
- Red and white currants fruit on old wood. However blackcurrants fruit on new wood - so they are pruned differently.
- Always look at the framework of your bush and aim for an open goblet shape. This allows the air to circulate preventing diseases. It also makes picking easier.
Redcurrant pruning
- In June and July, the current season’s new growth should be shortened back to five leaves on the main stems. Do not remove any fruit. The new growth is obvious - it is softer and the foliage is lighter.
- In winter, spur prune all the side shoots by cutting them back to between one and three buds. Shorten the tips of the branches by a third - to an outward facing bud. This encourages lateral growth and fruit buds.
- Remove any branches close to the ground so that you create a short leg or trunk.
- Always remove suckers.
Pruning cordons
- Summer pruning can be done from early June until mid-July. Cut all the young side shoots back to five leaves and tie the growing tip to the cane as it extends.
- Once the plant is dormant, between late autumn and late winter prune back the same side shoots to one or two buds. Cut back the tip by one-third.
- Once the cordon reaches roughly chest height (approximatelyy five feet) cut back the tip to five leaves from last year’s growth in the summer, and then back to one to three buds from last year's growth in winter.
- Bushes produce more fruit than cordons.
More varieties
'Jonkheer van Tets'
An early cropper which forms large bushes.
'Redstart'
A new late-flowering and cropping variety that avoids frosts. Low-growing and compact.
'Stanza'
Much darker berries than most others once they have fully ripened. Growth is compact so 'Stanza' is good for a small garden - flavour said to be good.
Propagating new bushes
Propagate by hardwood cuttings taking about 30 cm (1 ft) long sections of newer growth in early autumn. Use pieces taken from young plants. Older plants may carry disease, so are best not propagated.
The best way to pick them
Use a large bowl and a fork and comb the fork through the trusses of fruit. If this is too back breaking pick the cluster and then use the fork.
Redcurrants are rich in Vitamin C and antioxidants.
Supplier Blackmoor Nurseries - www.blackmoor.co.uk