Soft Fruit & Top Fruit in April
Our ‘Grow Your Own’ expert Martin Day gives us an update on the types of fruit we have available for planting this month. Growing your own is so satisfying and the choice, taste, and just picked freshness is without a doubt superior to anything you will buy at the supermarket!
“We have a good range of potted-up soft fruit which is bursting into leaf and ready for planting now. The ground is warming up nicely and the daylight hours are longer so as long as the plants are given enough water to help them establish, they should put on good growth, and even have a light crop this year. We have good stocks of lots of varieties of strawberry with a range of cropping times from early June to late July, plus some everbearers which will crop gently through the season until the first frosts. Some varieties are suited to growing in containers so please ask which ones would be suitable if you are interested.
Blueberries continue to be popular for home-growing so long as you grow them in an acidic (ericaceous) compost they will do well and have a long cropping time over the summer. They have pretty, cream flowers in spring and vibrant red/purple autumn leaf colour making them very ornamental too.
Blackberries that crop in their first year rather than on one year old wood have been available for a couple of years and are easier to look after than the traditional type which need more tying in of the canes. It’s worth considering other cane fruit such as the hybrids between blackcurrants and raspberries such as Loganberries and Tayberries as they have a great flavour but also the vigour and robustness of a blackberry.
Other more unusual soft fruit include the Jostaberry which is a cross between a blackcurrant and a gooseberry with the best features of of both parents e.g. no thorns and resistant to the pests and diseases which affect the parent plants.
Don’t forget rhubarb which makes it onto the list as an honorary fruit: so long as it is kept well-fed and watered it will crop well each year and is well worth growing especially given that it is expensive in the shops. We have a good range of varieties to choose from.
Grapes are also worth considering whether for eating, wine-making or dual-purpose types. We usually stock 10 or more varieties which will be arriving with us shortly.
Top fruit is still available: apples, pears and cherries which will give good crops once they have become established. All of our top fruit is containerised so can be planted now and will settle in well. They will need what can feel like quite a lot of water over the summer as their roots grow into the surrounding soil. I find it best to use a watering can to apply the water as you can then be sure of the amount of water you have given them: a couple of cans several times a week should do the trick, but in the middle of summer it is hard to overwater trees.
Do check whether the fruit-tree you are considering is self-fertile or whether there is a suitable pollination partner nearby (either in your garden or a near-neighbours) to ensure that you get a good crop from your tree.”
Top Fruit = fruit that grows on trees.
Soft Fruit = fruit that grows on herbaceous plants, bushes, canes or vines.
Growing Your Own can be easy once you know how, and you don’t need a lot of space, our team are always on hand to offer advice – happy growing!
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