Growing fruit in the UK, from strawberries and rhubarb to raspberries and other soft fruit, with honest advice and lived-in tips from over twenty years in an Oxfordshire garden. Whether you are growing in pots, beds or a dedicated fruit patch, these guides cover planting, care, harvesting and the mistakes worth avoiding.
How to grow gooseberries in the UK, plant a bare-root bush between November and March, or a potted one at any time of year, in a sunny sheltered spot with moist but well-drained soil. Space bushes 1.2 to 1.5m apart, prune to an open goblet shape each winter, and watch for sawfly larvae from late … Read more
This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through one of my recommended links I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I genuinely think are worth buying. A good row of raspberries is one of the best deals in the whole garden. A handful of canes … Read more
To grow blueberries in the UK you need one thing above all: acid soil, with a pH between 4.5 and 5.5. Most British gardens do not have it, which is why the most reliable way to grow blueberries here is in a large pot of ericaceous compost, watered with rainwater rather than tap water. Plant … Read more
Rhubarb is the closest thing to a free lunch in the whole garden. You plant one crown, leave it largely alone, and it crops every spring for ten, fifteen, even twenty years, asking almost nothing in return. The clump in my Oxfordshire garden came as a split off a neighbour’s plant well over a decade … Read more
This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through one of my recommended links I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I genuinely think are worth buying. Strawberries were the first proper fruit I ever grew, back when I had no idea what I was doing, … Read more