Everything you need to know about growing and enjoying the UK's most popular berries.
Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries are the berries most UK gardens grow first, and this is where I cover varieties, pests and getting a decent yield from each one. New to it all? The seasonal calendar is a good companion while you plan.
Slugs, birds, and aphids are the three most common strawberry pests, and all three are manageable without chemicals. Dealing with them early in the season...
Read article →For the best blueberry harvest, grow at least two different varieties. Most highbush blueberries are technically self-fertile — one plant will set fruit on its...
Read article →Strawberries are one of the best fruits for hanging baskets — the plants trail naturally, the fruit hangs clear of the ground and away from slugs, and a...
Read article →Strawberries can be grown successfully indoors on a bright windowsill, in a conservatory, or under grow lights, and compact varieties produce a genuine harvest...
Read article →The highest-yielding strawberry varieties in UK gardens can produce two to three times as much fruit per plant as average types. Florence, Elsanta, Sonata, and...
Read article →The sweetest strawberry varieties grown in UK gardens tend to share a few traits: smaller berries, thinner skins, and flavours that build on the palate rather...
Read article →Traditional raspberry canes shoot up to two metres, demand posts and wires to hold them upright, and sucker their way into every corner of the garden they can...
Read article →Top Hat is a dwarf blueberry that grows to just 30 to 50cm tall — compact enough for a patio pot, a balcony, or a sunny doorstep. It produces full-sized...
Read article →Mara des Bois is a repeat-fruiting strawberry with an unusually deep, aromatic flavour that many gardeners describe as closer to a wild strawberry than any...
Read article →Cambridge Favourite is a reliable, disease-resistant strawberry that has been among Britain’s most widely grown varieties since the 1960s. It is not the...
Read article →The strawberry shelf at a garden centre paints a comforting but rather misleading picture: rows of near-identical plants that go on to produce rows of...
Read article →A white strawberry with red seeds that's supposed to taste of pineapple. The first time I heard the claim I assumed it had been dreamed up in a marketing...
Read article →Autumn-fruiting raspberries — a single row can crop for six to eight weeks and needs less structural support than summer varieties.
Yes, but only in a container of ericaceous compost — planted straight into neutral or alkaline garden soil, they'll struggle and eventually fail.
Strawberries can fruit the same year; raspberries and blackcurrants usually need a full year to establish before a proper first crop.
