Please help a newbie plant her Aldi fruit shrubs

NualaBuala

This is supposed to be the year I stop planning and finally get my hands dirty!

Thanks to advice from so many of you I have rid a patch of my garden of brambles. I haven't dug the ground yet and it is coverd in a few years' worth of old dead leaves. But at least I can see the ground now so it's a start!

I've picked up some raspberry, redcurrant and gooseberry shrubs from Aldi but I'm not sure how to plant them. One of the packs has blackberry in it which is quite ironic really given how hard I worked to get rid of the brambles. :rotfl: I really need a step-by-step idiot-proof guide as I am utterly clueless.

Am going to Homebase this evening so can buy anything like compost then. I have a spade and a fork for digging already.

So if anyone can advise me I'd be really grateful.

RAS

Hi

Ignore compost.

I am assuming that the stuff you have bought is in pots? If so, get them outside in the cold ASAP, as long as they do not have loads of lovely fresh green shoots waiting for the frost to hit them.

If they have, then put them out every day and get them under cover if there is a frost due any time in the next fortnight.

First thing - read up/look up on how big your fruit bushes can become. A healthy mature redcurrant is 4-5 foot spread. On the other hand the raspberries can go 6 inches apart.

Do you have that much space? if not both redcurrants and gooseberries can be grown as cordons about 45cms apart.

Think about how much sun they get and any overhanging trees.

So plan where they are going to live. Then dig over an area a metre diameter (or square) for each of the bushes and for the area where you are putting the canes, and remove any perennial weed. In the middle of each area of clean soil, dig a hole somewhat bigger than the pot and sprinkle in a slow release fertiliser (bonemeal if you can still get it or a chemical one). Spread the roots out and plant slightly deeprr than in the pot as the soil will settle and tread round the plant to firm it in.

That way you do not get loads of thistles and bindweed mixed in with your permanent plants. In the short-term, you can grow veggies round your new bushes as long as they do not overcrowd them.

NualaBuala

Hi RAS and thanks for the advice.

They actually look like sticks in a bag of muck to my untrained eye! I've stuck them in the utility room which tends to be freezing and hopefully will plant them tomorrow.

Wow, I didn't realise they could grow so big. I have 6 plants in total - 2 gooseberry, 2 raspberry, 1 redcurrant and 1 blackcurrant. I don't know what a cordon is? I have a fair bit of space but I don't think I want to give over too much to the fruit bushes unless I have to. I will check the pack to see if they have recommended distances on them.

Thanks again!

RAS

Hi

Do you have a blackcurrant bush or a blackberry cane?

Here are instruction on growing cordon http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=332

You cannot do this with a blackcurrant, they have to be treated differently.

Your two raspberry canes need to be planted close together. Are they summer or autumn fruiting?

NualaBuala

Thanks a million RAS, that's a really handy link. I don't know when the raspberries fruit, one is Glen Ample and the other is Glen something else - will double check and look them up. I exchanged one of my packs so I don't have blackberry now; I have a blackcurrant and also one Tayberry (it looks like a loganberry in the picture). The cordon looks like an interesting idea and I have a wall I could train them up.

Poppycat1

Hi, I have bought exactly the same ones as you. I have just spoken with my Dad and he says that the Tayberry will grow along the ground and cause a few problems to the other plants around it. A bit like a blackberry. He has suggested that I grow it against something. I am going to grow it up our shed at the allotment. It will need some kind of support. He also says that you don't get that much friut from them.

We planted our raspberry bushes the recommended distance last year. They didn't do much in the first year. We grow pumpkins and butternut squash in the spaces. I think we will be able to do the same this year.

I also got the strawberry hanging basket to grow in my small backgarden. Expensive but the plants will be fine for a few years and should have shoots that can be planted into another hanging basket next year.

NualaBuala

Hi Poppy :wave:

The funny thing is that I have spent ages clearning brambles from the garden and here I am planting Tayberry! Well it's still in a bucket in the utility room, I haven't planted it yet. Thanks for the advice - I will put it by the wall and try to train it up and keep a close eye that it doesn't take over.

I thought I was getting just one of each shrub but I see there are about 6 canes in the pack - bonus! Except that is a lot more holes I will have to dig; good exercise I guess.

RAS

Summer fruiting then

Check this link then http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder/plant_pages/8206.shtml

Normally people have at least 5 raspberry canes to get a decent crop.

They fruit on last year's wood, so you need to cut the cane you have just bought back to ground level after it fruits and the new canes will fruit next year.

NualaBuala

Thanks RAS :T It looks like I have about 5 raspberry canes in total; I thought I was getting one of each fruit per pack! Does that mean I won't have fruit this year if it grows on the old canes?

I have two spots where I'm planting the fruit, one is against a wall and the other is just "free standing" where the lawn meets the veg patch. They're going in today so any last minute advice?!

RAS

Good re the rasps. Are they bare rooted or in a pot?

NualaBuala

They're in little plastic bags of soil or compost. Not in pots anyway. They are going in tomorrow for sure - I had a rather extended afternoon nap today. Hope they're ok till then, they're in a cold room.