Focus on...Blackcurrants

Tangy fruits in abundance are within reach

- Lucy Chamberlain

THERE is no fruit to match the intensity of flavour of a blackcurrant. The whole bush is literally bursting with fragrance that you can release the distinct aroma just by brushing past a plant. Robust, trouble-free and prolific, the bushes are also incredibly simple to grow – there’s not much going against them, to be honest!

Happy in sun or shade, one bush is all that’s needed because plants are self-fertile. If you have room, the vigorous and lofty ‘Ben Hope’ is very abundant and worthwhile growing. For those with tiny plots, compact ‘Ben Sarek’ is for you, and it grows happily in a pot as well.

Blackcurrants crop best on vigorous two and three-year-old wood, so an unpruned mature plant will ultimately become less and less productive. Worry not: this is a great time for pruning, and the process is straightforward.