Below are tips for growing & caring for Top Fruits & Soft Fruits.

A succulent harvest of ripe berries in summer and orchard fruits in autumn makes gardening worthwhile for gardeners with very little effort required. Fruit trees have the added bonus of beautiful spring blossom, and we have the added bonus of all year round soft fruit as it is perfect for freezing.

Fruit Trees are often referred to as top fruit & are divided into the following:
• Pip fruit: Apples &Pears
• Stone fruit: Plums, Apricots, Peaches, Greengages, Nectarines, Cherries & Damsons

Each type has a wide range of varieties & by careful selection, fruit can be produced all summer long & also be stored for autumn. Pay attention to your choice of plant, as it is often best to grow different varieties of the same type of fruit near to one another to improve pollination & produce the best crop.

Sizes of Top Fruit

• Maidens: trees for further training.
• Bush: short stem, use a stake & tie.
• Half Standard: stem of up to 1.2m, use stake & tie
• Standard Stem: stem of up to 2m, use stake & tie
• Horizontal trained or espalier: need training or wires
• Fan: usually grown on wires against a wall
• Cordon – single stem: Pip Fruit only – support on wires very compact

Planting Top Fruit

• Preparation: Good preparation is important. Dig a good-sized planting hole at least 1m across & 25cm deep. Add organic material such as well-rotted farmyard manure, or garden compost.
• Support: Half-standard and standard trees & any bushes in wind exposed gardens need staking & tying. Horizontal-trained, fan & cordon trees need wire supports, whether free-standing or planted against a wall or fence.
• Watering: If growing trees in grass, keep a clear area of at least 1m in diameter around the base of the tree to prevent competition & promote growth. Water trees well after planting& also in dry weather. All will benefit from an application of a general fertiliser each spring.
• Pruning: This is an important task & with most top fruit the aim is to keep an open centre to the tree which allows light to enter & aid ripening of the fruit. Fan & Horizontal-trained & Cordons need special pruning so seek advice for your local garden centre, gardening books or visit www.rhs.org.uk/advice.

All soft fruit must be planted in well prepared soil with added organic material such as well-rotted farmyard manure or garden compost. They also benefit from a mulch of the same organic composts ideally during late winter before any new growth starts.

Bush Soft Fruit

Black, Red, whitecurrants & gooseberries come in a range of varieties & are normally sold as bush-shaped plants of one or two years old. Standards & pre-trained cordon trees are also available. Grow them as an individual plant or in rows at 1.2m apart with 2m minimum between rows. You do not need different varieties for pollination as all are self-fertile. Attention to pruning will increase not only the size of the crop but the long-term wellbeing of the bush. Try to maintain an open habit that will allow sunlight to reach all the fruit & ripen it quickly. All bush & cane soft fruit benefit from an annual application of a general fertiliser in early to mid-spring.

Currants

Prune blackcurrants after fruiting by removing all fruited shoots in the second & subsequent years after planting once the crop has been harvested. Cut these off at ground level to make way for the newly developing shoots which will take their place. Red & whitecurrants should be pruned in late winter & early spring, by reducing all the new side shoots produced in the previous year to 4cm in length. Reduce any leading shoots to about 15cm from their origins, to produce fruiting shoots or spurs. In addition, throughout their lives, keep a short basel stem up to 30cm long, removing any growth from it.

Reduce all the previous years’ shoots back to within 20-25cm from their origin in late winter & spring, and remove any strong crossing shoots. Encourage a short basal stem, as with red & whitecurrants. Because many gooseberry varieties have a weeping habit, where possible make any cuts to an upward & outward-facing bud.

Raspberry canes are often sold in bundles of 5 or 10, bare-rooted, between autumn & early spring, from certified pest & disease-free stock. Container grown plants can be bought, but care must be taken not to plant out too late in spring if a good root system is to be established before the cane naturally dies.

Stalking

Raspberries prefer to be tied to a form of framework & this is best provided with posts & wires up to 2m high. They should be planted 50cm apart in rows with up to 2m between them in an open sunny position.

Pruning

For summer fruiting varieties reduce canes back to 25cm high in the first spring after planting. In following years, cut fruited canes to ground level after harvesting the crop. Cut autumn-fruiting varieties to ground level after fruiting or in early spring & the resulting canes will fruit the following autumn, usually without support.

Soft fruit plants come in a multitude of guises, colours and sizes, strawberry plants, raspberry canes, gooseberry bushes to name a few. Most soft fruit plants are incredibly easy & enormously satisfying to grow & allow you to enjoy the taste of healthy, home grown fruit at a fraction of the cost of buying them.

Soft fruit grows well in most soil types but ideally should be grown in well-drained, water retentive soil. It should be deep, well dug & incorporate plenty of well-rotted organic matter. Most fruit like a sunny sheltered position in soil with a PH of around PH6-7. Traditionally, soft fruit bushes are planted from August to Spring but nowadays pot grown soft fruit is available nearly all year round. All fruit will need protecting from birds which can destroy your crop completely. Use garden netting, but keep it taut so they don’t get trapped.

Take up little space, are easy to maintain & can be eaten straight from the plant. Because they trail they are ideal for planting in containers or hanging baskets and the plants are cheap & easy to propagate. Plant outdoors from late June until September for a crop the following summer. Use a well drained soil with plenty of additional well-rotted compost. Plant in full sun in a sheltered spot. After the soil is ready for planting, plant every 35cm in rows with the crown at soil level. Water-in well. Feed with tomato food fortnightly until fruits start to form, then weekly until fruiting finishes. Protect developing fruit by placing straw or strawberry matting under fruit from trusses to suppress weeds & prevent fruit lying on the ground & rotting. Prune all foliage & unwanted runners when fruiting has finished. You can yield as much as 700g per plant & are ideal with cream, ice cream, add to fruit salads, make a trifle, make jam, incorporate into puddings.

Plants grow as canes that reach 1.5 – 2m tall. Plant about 40cm apart with space on either side for picking. Feed in spring with a balanced fertiliser then mulch the surface with bulky organic material. Water in dry spells, especially when the fruit starts to swell. Support plants with stakes & horizontal wires to grow against a fence. Prune after harvesting. Cut out old, brown canes & tie in the new, green canes, cutting out the thinnest & shortest. For autumn fruiting varieties, cut all the canes down in February. You can yield as much as 1kg per plant, & are ideal with cream, ice cream, add to fruit salads, coulis, trifle, make jam, incorporate into puddings.

For best results buy 2 – 3 year old establishes bushes. These are usually 50-80cm in height & will normally state the age on the reverse of the plant label. Plant each bush in at least 1.2sq m of ground. Cut back main branches by half. Feed in spring with sulphate of potash then mulch with bulky organic matter. Water in dry spells, especially when the fruit starts to swell. Thin fruit when berries are semi-ripe, from mid-May to early June. Pick every other berry, & use them for cooking. Remaining berries can be left to fully ripen. Prune the first winter after planting – remove low branches, or any crossing the centre of the bush. Cut back remainder by half creating an open centre with six to eight main branches. You can yield as much as 4kg per plant, & are ideal for pies, fools, puddings & crumbles.

For best results buy 2 years old plants. The way to identify this is that the plant will have at least two stems of pencil thickness. Plant in a sunny, sheltered spot, 2.5cm deeper than previous planting depth to encourage new shoots from the base. Feed in spring with balanced fertiliser then mulch with bulky organic material. Water in dry spells, especially when fruit starts to swell. Prune in winter a year or two after planting, once plants have seven or eight good branches. Remove a third of the branches, starting with the oldest (darkest), cutting down to ground level or to a strong new side branch to encourage new shoots. You can yield as much as 5kg per plant once established & are ideal for pies, jam & crumbles, fools & coulis.

  Great Space Saving Ideas

• Hanging Baskets: will keep fruit away from slugs leaving more for you to enjoy.
• Pots: allow you to grow fruits not suitable for your soil. Blueberries prefer acid soil but if garden soil is alkaline fill pots wither ericaceous compost for the perfect conditions.
• Grow Bags: on balconies or terraces strawberries grow very well in grow bags because of their shallow roots, but make sure to water frequently. If you have a greenhouse, plant up strawberries in grow bags for growing an even earlier crop.

On our own website you can purchase Gardman “Grow your Own” Pop-Up Strawberry Planters. No garden is required for this item, it is low cost & low maintenance. The measurements are 30cm Diameter and 50cm in Height. We are selling it for £7.99.

  Tools You'll Need

• Fork, spade & Secateurs
• Fertiliser, organic planting material
• Post & wire supports
• Fruit Trees
• Stakes, ties, hammer, nails & sledgehammer
• Bushes or canes
• Garden string for tying