This section covers planting and maintenance of soft fruit bushes. The syllabus also says that you will need to talk about freezing capability but I’ve not seen that in any of the past exam papers.
You will need to name cultivars or varieties of each of the fruits listed, early and late types. The ones I’ve listed are examples, but pick the ones you already know to make it a bit easier.
- Strawberry – these are herbaceous plants. They are perennial but should be replaced every 3 years or so. Varieties: Cambridge Favourite (mid season), Aromal (late)
- Raspberries – these grow as canes. Varieties: Glen Moy (early), Autumn Bliss (late)
- Blackcurrants – these are a bush, but their pruning is similar to raspberries. Varieties: Spartan (early), Goliath (mid season)
- Gooseberry – this is a bush and is often trained a bit like a tree into cordons. Varieties: Careless (cooking), Leveller (dessert)
- Blueberry – this is a bush and requires an acidic soil. Varieties: Duke (early), Bluegold (late)
- Grape – This is a bush/vine and is trained. Varieties: Gargarin Blue (early), Alicante (late)
Things you might consider when deciding what soft fruit to grow would be the growing conditions (blueberries need an acid soil), space available (blueberries are self-fertile but are more productive if other varieties of blueberry are growing nearby), and whether the site is sheltered (grapes are not hardy). You can choose early or late varieties depending on what you are looking for, and what purpose you have in mind (cooking gooseberries or for eating as they are). In general, soft fruits do not keep in their natural state, but you can make them into jams, freeze them or dry them. In all cases, you would want to buy certified virus-free stock. You also want it to be true-to-type and of a named variety.
When planting your soft fruit, you would choose a sunny site and dig in some organic matter. You might also put in support for a raspberry (post and wire – posts 2m tall, spaced 3m apart with wire stretched between them parallel to the ground at 75cm, 1.1m and 1.5m above the ground.) Plant your soft fruit which is likely to be supplied in a pot, but they could be bare-root. Mulch to suppress weeds and improve water retention. Tie the plant in to the supports if required (raspberries, gooseberries and grapes) and also net off if necessary to prevent the fruit all being eaten by birds (blueberries).
Some of the woody fruit bushes need pruning. Summer fruiting raspberries have the canes which have fruited that year cut right down to the ground. Autumn fruiting raspberries have all the canes cut down to the ground in late winter. Blackcurrants have up to a third of the oldest wood cut to the ground each year. Blueberries just have some of the oldest and unproductive stems cut down to the ground. Gooseberries are pruned a bit like apples.
The syllabus asks for 4 ways to improve pollination of fruit, so these could be – choosing cultivars which aid each other to be more productive (such as blueberries), planting extra pollinators like crab apples, planting shelter belts or hedges for pollinating insects to shelter in, and having windbreaks so that the pollinators can fly about easily.
There are also pests and diseases of fruits, so:
- Strawberry pest: birds which eat the fruit – cover with a fruit cage. Disease: powdery mildrew which damages the fruit – remove and destroy affected parts of the plant and keep the leaves dry.
- Raspberry pest: aphids – spray with fatty acids. Disease: grey mould – remove affected parts of the plant and destroy. Improve ventilation around the plant.
- Blackcurrant pest: birds – net off. Disease: reversion which leads to a poor crop – there is no cure for this and the whole plant should be dug up and destroyed.
- Gooseberry pest: Gooseberry sawfly which eat the leaves – spray with deltamethrin. Disease: leaf spot which reduces yield – pick off affected leaves.
- Blueberry pest: birds – grow in a fruit cage. Disease: leaf spot – pick off affected leaves.
- Grape pest: whitefly – spray with fatty acids. Disease: grey mould – improve ventilation around the plant.
Gardening studies 