Step-by-step guides to growing berries of all kinds in UK gardens — from soil preparation to harvesting.
These are my step-by-step guides to growing berries in a UK garden, covering soil, planting and the seasonal jobs that actually move the needle. If you only read one, start with the berries-in-season calendar to see what to plant or prune each month.
What Are Jostaberries? The jostaberry is one of those plants I find genuinely fascinating — a complex hybrid that takes the best of the blackcurrant and the...
Growing guide →If you only ever grow one hybrid berry, make it the tayberry. I mean that. It is a proudly Scottish creation and, to my mind, one of the finest hybrid berries...
Growing guide →What Are Japanese Wineberries? Japanese wineberries (Rubus phoenicolasius) are a species of cane fruit native to Japan, China and Korea that grows...
Growing guide →What Are Loganberries? The loganberry is one of the great happy accidents of horticulture, and I never tire of telling the story. Back in 1881, Judge James...
Growing guide →If I had to name the most charming fruit I grow, the cape gooseberry would be right at the top of the list. Each golden-orange berry sits tucked inside its own...
Growing guide →If you've never heard of honeyberries, you're in good company, but I reckon that won't be true for much longer. These elongated blue berries, also known as...
Growing guide →Strawberries, by a wide margin — they fruit in their first year, tolerate most soils, and forgive beginner mistakes better than currants or blueberries.
No — only blueberries and a few other acid-loving relatives need genuinely acidic soil. Most cane fruit and currants are happy in ordinary neutral garden soil.
Late autumn to early winter, while the ground is still workable and the plant is dormant, gives roots a full season to establish before next summer's growth.
