Harvesting the Soft Fruit

Well, after all my efforts, the overall harvest has been disappointing in quantity (see below), but it has been interesting renovating the garden, taking cuttings and discovering which types of soft fruit I actually have in the garden.  I can certainly move around the Fruit Garden now and can keep the paths mown.

I have also taken some Brown Turkey Fig cuttings from my potted Fig tree, which produced 5 ripe figs this year.



Some of the varieties are unknown, so I have named them after the place they came from, for example, 'Red Gooseberry Dolton' or 'Blackcurrant Slees'.  All of the existing bushes produced a little fruit. I used net curtains to protect some bushes.



I have the following varieties already planted:

Gooseberry Careless (pre-1858) (Green-Transparent)




Gooseberry Leveller (pre-1858) (Green)

Gooseberry May Duke (Red) (1890)

Gooseberry Lynden (smooth fruit flushed red)

Gooseberry Dolton (Red)




Worcesterberry (Native North American)



Whitecurrant White Versailles (1843)

Mixed currants

Redcurrant Slees

Blackcurrant Slees (large berries)


Rhubarb Victoria (1837)

Rhubarb Timperleys Early (1947)

Total harvest in 2024

Gooseberries    1.4kg

Blackcurrants    325g

Mixed currants 550g

Rhubarb 1.7kg

Blackberries 310g

= 4.3kg

In addition I have approximately 50 cuttings and 20 young plants to replenish my stock and to give away to friends.  I don't have space to plant them all, so I may put some into planters and train some as cordons. Experience has proven that they can be very long-lived, but the challenge will be to maintain them and to keep them watered if in pots.



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