Fruit bushes/canes in Wilkinsons?

Kevie192

Hi all,

After a little bit of advice. I am a complete gardening novice so apologise in advance if I say anything stupid!

We have a spare raised bed and I would like to turn it into a fruit/veg section. We love raspberries so I was looking in Wilkinsons today and saw some in there. 3 canes in a pot for £4.50.

Are these going to be any good or just a waste of time? How many will I need to get a half decent crop in future years? Was thinking of perhaps two pots of an early variety and two of a late but not if only 2 will mean a tiny crop twice a year!

I would also like to put a few strawberry plants, a couple of rhubarb crowns and potentially some gooseberry bushes I also saw in Wilkinsons. Can you foresee any problems with this?

Thanks for any help you can give

Kevin

wallbash

I started with six canes three years ago, Autumn Bliss, They soon multiply.
Mine have grown very quickly in the past three weeks, so don't delay.

How big is the raised bed,you are a little ambitious space wise.
Rhubarb will grow anywhere

Kevie192

OK, so two of each sounds ok then... I think the bed is about 1.5m x 1m or something similar. I can ditch the rhubarb out of there and put it somewhere else, that's not a problem.

My idea was to put the canes across the back against the fence, the strawberries along the front (perhaps encourage them to trail?!) and the gooseberries in the middle somewhere, though thinking about it the spines on them might stop me getting to the raspberries... Hmm...

Kevin

Farway

As wallbash says, raspberries rapidly increase, beware though of mixing them, they will soon become a thicket & you will have problems knowing which are which

Rhubarb, again, any where

Goosegogs, easy really

I would forget the strawberries, sounds nice & tasty but for such a short season, and limited space, concentrate or what is expensive to buy, due to labour cost but easy to grow

Raspberries & gooseberries, and oddly enough, rhubarb fit this well

Kevie192

Thanks Farway. Would you recommend anything instead of strawberries or just keep to those 3 things for now?

Thanks,

Kevin

Farway

Raspberries have spines as well, and there are thornless gooseberry varieties.

I have raspberries at back of gooseberry bush, the heights are different so picking rasps easy over top of gooseberry

But Gooseberry bushes can get large over the years

wallbash

Raspberries have the height, but I have a single row of strawberries along the front, otherwise the space is wasted. Don't forget some support for the canes, they say Autumn Bliss is self supporting , but mine always seem to lean over. Get the support sorted before planting the canes,
Mine is 6 solid posts , supporting three rows of wire.

Another suggesting , I'm growing Red Currants, a Boysenberry and a Tay Berry this year.

ps don't like gooseberries

DigForVictory

Anyone know how soon to worry about their Loganberry? Got one, soaked & unwrapped & planted - no sign of life yet. (Aldi fruit bushes more expensive (2.99!) but at least come with leaves so you can see if theyre coping with the transition.

If you want a harvest of berries, you may be advised to invest in a net at some stage. Your local poundshop has these as well as Wilkos & suppliers...

wallbash

I wouldn't panic yet, my fruit canes were planted last November and its only in the last three weeks have I seen some growth......but its a lot of growth in a short space of time.

Kevie192

Hi all,

I bought the plants and have planted them but I am worried I planted the gooseberries too close to the raspberries. What do you think? Do I need to do anything to remedy it?

Thanks,

Kevin

SailorSam

I've had lots of various fruit bushes from the £shop and they're all doing well. I even took cuttings last Autumn and was going to give them away now they've started to grow on Freecycle.