City Times Gardening

I’m in the mood for buying fruit for a new bed this year and want to look at a few alternatives to apple or strawberry. Don’t get me wrong, I love all things fruit but want a challenge.

Many fruits that were not grown in this country until recently are now widely available, such as blueberries, while others come and go in popularity, such as gooseberries. Here’s a brief mention of a few more types of fruit worth considering.

Cherries

Cherries are top fruit and produce small fruits surrounding a stone. Two main types of cherry may be cultivated in gardens:

• Sweet cherries (Prunus avium): These are dessert cherries, eg, ‘Early Rivers’ and ‘Stella’ AGM. Both are self-fertile so no need for an additional plant for pollination.

• Acid cherries: These are for culinary use, eg, Morello - also self -fertile and can be picked when young and red for stewing or left until black and bittersweet. The flesh is dark red.

All are hardy deciduous trees. Of the two, acid cherries are the less vigorous. Overall, there are fewer reliable dwarfing rootstocks available for cherries than with other top fruits; the sweet cherries are inherently vigorous plants and this can present problems in cultivation in smaller gardens. Cherries are grafted onto Colt,‘Gisela 5 semi-dwarfing rootstocks or Malling F12/1, a vigorous rootstock. On the whole, acid cherries are easier to grow and manage. The cropping season for cherries is limited.

Cherries can be heavy cropping but are easily spoilt in wet weather. They must be picked when fully ripe with the stalk intact and used or frozen immediately as they do not store. Sweet cherries require full sun, but acid cherries are suitable for training on a north facing wall as a fan.

Something I’ve grown in clients’ gardens are blueberries, however, not my own… until now!

Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum)

Blueberries are soft fruit and can be considered as a type of bush fruit.

Blueberries must have acid (pH 4.0-5.5) moist but well-drained soil with a high organic content to succeed and should never be subjected to drought. As my soil has a higher pH, I’ll be using large half barrels with ericaceous peat-free compost, planting them and the leaving for at least 2-3 years to establish a strong bushy form. By this time they should be cropping well, the key is not to overly let then dry out in summer, and so thick mulches of the same composts will be much needed and appreciated by the plant. No support system is required. The other wonderful thing about these plants, is that they are evergreen and have good strong autumn colour.

A small range of cultivars are available, and all of the following are suitable for growing in containers.

• Duke AGM: Stocky bushes produce good yields of medium to large fruit of excellent flavour. Duke flowers late but crops early, so is especially good for northern areas where the growing season is short. It is partly self-fertile.

• Nelson: A mid to late season cultivar that is very hardy and selffertile. The large fruits and good flavour make it useful for the home fruit garden.

• Spartan AGM: Very hardy, early to mid season, Spartan bears large fruits with a sweet, tangy flavour. To crop well, this cultivar needs another blueberry cultivar nearby.

Blueberries ripen from mid-summer and crop through to late summer depending on the variety. They should be picked when soft and a blue-black in colour and with a waxy bloom. Pick over the plants several times as not all the fruit ripens at the same time. The fruit can be kept for a few days after harvesting, or up to three weeks in the fridge. Blueberries can also be frozen.

And lastly..

Grapes (Vitis Vinifera)

Grape vines are deciduous woody climbers with tendrils and can be classified as soft fruit. They are sun-loving plants requiring warm, sheltered positions to flourish or the protection of a glasshouse. Black cultivars are more likely to require protected cultivation than white types, as the latter have a shorter ripening season. Production of grapes for dessert purposes is much more likely to succeed under glass in the British climate.

Grapes need to be harvested carefully, as handling them destroys the ‘bloom’ on the fruit. They should only be harvested once the ripening period has finished and sugars have formed in the fruit. This may be several weeks after full colour has developed on the fruit. They cannot be stored for long periods following harvest.

Heavy yields can be obtained providing a regime of winter and summer pruning is maintained that establishes a healthy cropping framework of older wood. The plants also need to be kept cool at the roots with a plentiful supply of moisture and potassium.

I can highly recommend the following local suppliers: www. pomonafruits.co.uk and kenmuir.co.uk.

Check out this link for all things grapes: www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/grapes/ grow-your-own.

Check out this link for other tasks to do this month www.rhs.org.uk/advice/in-month/february.

Happy gardening

For any gardening tips please contact Tom Cole, Horticultural Lecturer, Capel Manor College, Bullsmoor Lane, Enfield, Middlesex, EN1 4RR, or by email at tom.cole@capel.ac.uk.

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