FRUIT BUSHES: THE WINTER CUT-BACK

Now's the time to shape up your soft fruit. Martin Fish shares his simple guide to pruning blackcurrants, currants and gooseberries ready for bumper crops

- Martin Fish

Soft fruit bushes such as blackcurrants, gooseberries, and red and white currants are easy to grow in the garden.

They will provide you with plenty of tasty, nutritious fruits through the summer, which can be enjoyed fresh or frozen for later use.

To get the best from your fruit bushes, they really do need to be pruned on an annual basis. This not only prevents them from growing too large and congested, but also helps keep them healthy and producing plenty of high-quality fruit. Yes, they will still fruit if not pruned but, over time, the size of the fruits will reduce, growth will become a tangled mess, and there is a greater chance of diseases attacking the plant.

Fortunately, pruning is easy and can be done at this time of the year when the bushes are dormant. Although some pruning can also be done in summer after the fruits have been harvested, the main pruning is usually done from late November to late February. With no leaves on the bushes, it's much easier to see exactly what needs to be pruned out.

If you have several different types of fruit bushes in your garden or allotment, you need to remember that they are not all pruned the same way. If you do prune the wrong way it certainly won't kill the plant - but it may result in fewer or no fruits the following year. To carry out the pruning, you'll need a sharp pair of secateurs and, if there are a few thicker or older branches to cut back, a pair of loppers.

BLACKCURRANT PRUNING