Currant bushes

redser7

Hi - has anyone grown currant bushes? I picked some black and red up from Lidl for the allotment but reading up on them they seem to take up quite a bit of room and now I'm wondering if they are worth it. Any experience? Can they be kept small? Is the yield worth it? What do you do with the crop? Would it be worth trying them as fans to save space? Thanks a lot

looksee

The use for currents is really down to making jam or stewing them for tarts. You can also use them raw or juiced. All are very nice but if you are not into home baking you will find you really don't need too many. They can also be a bit tedious to pick.

On the plus side they freeze really well.

You do cut out old wood, but they are quite spreading bushes.

redser7

Thanks Looksee. I'll give them a bash. Have 3 of each. Will plant one each in the ground and pot up the other two for a while and see.
Cheers

looksee

A good way to judge how many fruit bushes you needed is to figure out how many your labourers (children) would be willing to pick. I found it worked out at one to two blackcurrents, a minus number of gooseberries and as many raspberries as you could get in the garden.

redser7

Thanks again. That's a good practical way of looking at it. Definately want a gooseberry bush too. Did you ever train one? I have a narrow (2 foot wide) strip I was pencilling in for gooseberry and backberry and was thinking fans along wires would work good there. Thanks

redser7

Thanks again. That's a good practical way of looking at it. Definately want a gooseberry bush too. Did you ever train one? I have a narrow (2 foot wide) strip I was pencilling in for gooseberry and backberry and was thinking fans along wires would work good there. Thanks