Blackcurrants by the book

This afternoon I slowly pruned our blackcurrants 'by the book'.  This is one of the benefits of our changed lifestyle - sufficient time to reflect and to act accordingly.  So after having watched their leaves change to an autumn yellow it was time to attend to them.

Followers of this blog will know that we purchased three bushes on arrival in the north west and positioned two of them in the 'wrong' spot.  This therefore was their first full year in better conditions.  The smallest bush is closest to the edge of the border and in a slight wind tunnel.  Nevertheless it was putting up a new branch from its roots.  So I trimmed off weaker branches thereby making sure that the bush was open to air and daylight.  The second bush had grown about twice as much as the others and yielded some tasty fruit this summer.  Not as many weak and crossing branches here.  The third bush was also quite small and received the same treatment as the first.  It too was putting up a new shoot.

If I had had more patience and 'taken it by the book' I would have pruned all three right down to about six inches above the ground and waited two years.  Blackcurrants are tough, however, and they are making the growth now I first expected.  My next job will be to thin out the raspberries, whose space they share, now shooting up all over our first raised bed.

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