Carol looks forward to summer fruits

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AS the gloomy weather persists, it’s a welcome escape to think ahead to summer and the possibility of growing delicious, juicy red fruits which are a taste of warmer weather.

Gardeners’ World presenter Carol Klein has also been thinking of summer and contemplating the ingredients to make the perfect summer pudding, most of which will grow happily in cooler gardens.

“Raspberries, blueberries and other easy-to-grow fruits such as redcurrants will combine beautifully and are easy to grow,” she says.

Carol, whose new book Grow Your Own Fruit follows on from her previous best-seller Grow Your Own Veg, believes that we are more hesitant about growing fruit than veg.

“The majority of veg grow over one season – there aren’t many perennial veg – and it’s a one-off thing. People get worried that fruit might be difficult to maintain.

“But raspberries, for instance, are among the most versatile fruits – they freeze well and make the most wonderful jam and the great thing about them is that you don’t need a really sunny place. They will crop in a bit of dappled shade because they are basically a woodland plant.”

You don’t need a lot of space as you can grow them in a row, up wires, or make a little hedge at the back of your vegetable garden or herbaceous border.

“Scottish raspberries are always the best varieties,” she says, so go for types including ‘Glen Moy’ and ‘Glen Ample’.

“With autumn-fruiters chop them right down to the base in really early spring and they’ll come back year after year.”

Other fruits which are easy to grow and make great additions to summer puddings include blackberries, blueberries, redcurrants and strawberries.

“Strawberries will spread hugely so are easy to propagate by taking the runners and dipping them into little pots of compost. When you’ve done that, take them away to make a fresh strawberry bed.

“Put them round your flowers if you don’t have enough room elsewhere and they’ll make good ground cover and you’ll get a lot of fruit that way, but keep suckers to a minimum once you’ve grown on what you want.”

If you are a beginner to gardening and can only grow one ingredient for your dessert, grow a blackcurrant bush, says Carol.

“It’s completely straightforward, will fruit prolifically and will just get better and better. The maintenance is simple. Every few years you just take out a third of the oldest wood and that’s it.”

You can even grow a bush in a big half barrel container, she says, provided you don’t use proprietary multi-purpose compost. You'd need a loam-based compost because the plant will be there a long time and you need really rich soil.

Like gooseberries and redcurrants, blackcurrants tolerate a wide range of soil conditions but prefer well-drained, moisture-retentive soil. They prefer full sun but will tolerate light shade. Avoid frost pockets, as frost can drastically reduce yields.

“One bush should yield about 4.5kg (10lb) of fruit,” says Carol. “In small gardens they can be grown in containers.”

Bare-root blackcurrants should be planted in late autumn, while containerised plants can go in at any time of year, as long as the soil is not too wet.

If you decide to go for blueberries, they require a moist, acid soil, can be grown in pots of loam-based ericaceous compost and also provide an ornamental feature thanks to their warm autumn colours.

“I just want people to have a go. Just grow a little row of raspberries or just a few strawberries, which are cheap enough but will repay you 100 times over,” she says.

– Grow Your Own Fruit, by Carol Klein, is published by Mitchell Beazley, priced £16.99.