Autumn gardening - fruit

Autumn is the time to prune, prepare or plant a wide range or fruit. Here's a round up:

Blueberry - Bushes meant to be grown in containers can be planted at any time in good growing weather, but if you're planting in the ground, you need to wait until after leaf fall in your area, which will be sometime from November to March. Prepare the soil by digging in composted bark or another good but not too rich medium (sawdust is good, manure is too rich to promote fruiting) then trim off the tips (say three inches) of the branches and remove any flower buds so the plant will establish strong roots in its first year. Space bushes five feet apart in the grown or compact cultivars can be three feet apart.

Raspberry - For a successful crop, the soil should be deep and fertile, so it's worth digging in plenty of garden compost or soil improver when planting or in the autumn if you have established plants. This is the time of year to plant new raspberry plants, which are usually available as bundles of bare-rooted canes in late autumn.

Blackberry - Blackberries fruit on last seasons growth prune out fruiting branches after fruit has been picked, leaving the 6 strongest young branches.

Currants - Blackcurrants fruit on last season's growth so once the fruit has been picked, it's time to prune out fruiting branches, leaving the strongest young growth and making sure there is plenty of air ventilation at the centre of the bush. On the other hand, Redcurrants fruit on old wood, so any autumn pruning should be limited to thinning out and the removal of weaker branches or damaged or diseased new shoots.

Rhubarb - A new rhubarb bed is best raised from divisions planted out in November, although it can be set out as late as March. Old crowns should be split, using a spade, into wedge shaped pieces with two or three buds on the outer edge, the inner part can usually be pared away with a knife. Alternatively newly purchased rhubarb plants can be set out any time from September, but remember they still need to be over-wintered and don't let them get too wet, or they will rot.

Autumn fruit photograph by panina.anna, used under a creative commons attribution licence