Sweet berries from your own garden are one of the great joys of summer. Soft fruit is easy to grow and requires little care. Even beginners and children can easily grow berry bushes. Tips for planting soft fruits.
How do I plant soft fruit in the garden?
For planting soft fruit in the garden, choose a sunny to semi-shady location, loosen the soil well and improve it with ripe compost or manure. Plant berry bushes in late autumn and pay attention to the correct planting distance, which varies depending on the variety.
What conditions should be present in the garden?
- Sunny to partially shaded location
- Well loosened soil
- No waterlogging
- Careful fertilization
- Regular pruning
The sunnier the location for the berry fruit, the larger the fruit will be. Sun-ripened berries taste sweeter and more aromatic.
Blueberries and cranberries also thrive in partial shade.
How is the soil prepared?
Loose the soil deeply and ensure good water permeability.
Careful removal of weeds is advisable. Soft fruit bushes have shallow roots, so the soil around the bushes must not be hoeed later. New weeds are therefore difficult to remove.
What should the soil be like?
Berry fruit bushes thrive best in loose soil. Refine heavy soils with a little sand. The soil can be a little acidic.
Mix the soil with mature compost or manure to save yourself the trouble of fertilizing later.
When is the best time to plant?
The most favorable time for planting berry fruit bushes is late autumn. Many bushes then bear berries the following year.
You can still plant berries in the ground in early spring. But then the harvest fails to materialize.
What planting distance do you have to keep?
The planting distance depends on the variety and the size of the future plant. It is:
- Blueberries and cranberries=approx. 60 centimeters
- Currants=about one meter
- Elderberries and sea buckthorn – at least two meters
When are soft fruits harvested?
Most soft fruits ripen from June to August. Elderberries and sea buckthorn are not ready to harvest until September.
How are soft fruits propagated?
Propagation takes place via cuttings and runners. Seeds from the berries can be used for sowing. However, this type of propagation is not easy and takes much longer than propagation from cuttings.
Tips & Tricks
Not every fruit that is called a berry is a real soft fruit. From a botanical point of view, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are grouped drupes. However, the cultivation is just as unproblematic as that of real soft fruit.