Currants - black, red and white

Growing Currants – ribes nigrum [blackcurrants] , ribes rubrum – [red and whitecurrants]

Currants – one of our most prolific and useful of the summer crops includes the most popular blackcurrant, redcurrant and whitecurrant.

When I first took over my plot I inherited several blackcurrant bushes, a redcurrant bush and a gooseberry bush. In spite of my best efforts with feeding, weeding, pruning, mulching – the blackcurrants continues to provide heavy crops of tiny fruits – a pain to harvest and unpleasant to eat. I eventually decided that there was no reason to hang on to effectively unproductive bushes. I replaced them with bushes which are now providing me with fruits which are almost grape-sized and delicious

Sowing and Growing

Currant bushes are best planted as bare-root bushes when they are dormant – between October and April though, in milder parts of the country they may not have gone into their dormant time by October and may have started to grow by April. Don’t consider planting when the ground is frozen.

Buy from an experienced provider who will supply you with certified stock.

You can also buy container-grown bushes which can, technically, be planted at any time of the year though, avoid planting when the ground is very wet or extremely dry during drought conditions or when they are cropping.

The plants are fairly tolerant of the type of soil but, prefer free draining, fertile slightly acid ground in a sunny sheltered position. Although it is tempting to plant new small bushes quite closely together to ‘pack-in’ as many as possible, remember as the bushes grow they will spread out. Allow, at least, 1 - 1½ metres between the bushes.

Prepare the ground well beforehand – clear all perennial weeds, including their roots. Dig in lots of manure/compost to the site several weeks before planting. Dig a hole at least twice that of the root ball or the bare roots when spread out. Fill in the hole with a mixture of well rotted manure and compost and the indigenous soil. Water well when planted. If planting bare root bushes, it is a good idea to [unpackage them immediately, if bought from a supplier on line], soak the roots in water for an hour before planting and ‘heel’ in well once planted.

Pot grown shrubs can, theoretically, be planted at any time though, most good suppliers won’t sell them when inappropriate. If you are planting from container grown – dig a hole at least twice that of the root ball [see above], tease out the roots from the rootball especially if the plant is ‘pot bound’ [the roots have taken up the whole of the pot space available and have twined round upon themselves forming a tight root ball].

Weed around the bushes by hand. If you use a hoe you run the risk of gashing the stem, allowing diseases into the plants. Mulch well around the plants in the autumn.

Once you have established bushes, you can increase your stock by taking hardwood cuttings from your own bushes in autumn – only take cuttings from healthy strong bushes.

Prune your bushes during the dormant season from October to March. Cut out old wood from the bushes and any diseased or weak stems – remember that blackcurrants fruit on new seasons stems but both redcurrants and whitecurrants fruit on old wood. If you remove all of the old wood on these bushes you will have no crop in the following year. Every few years it is a good idea to remove about a third of the old branches to encourage new growth. In pruning, try to encourage the bush to be compact but open, to allow the light into the bush and for ease of harvesting. Both redcurrants and whitecurrants can be grown as cordons if you are short of space.

Types and Varieties

The usual seed and plant providers will only give a limited range of fruit bushes. For blackcurrants the most popular are Ebony and Ben Connan.

For whitecurrants, you are likely to be offered Blanco and for Redcurrants Rovada seems to be the winner These are all good varieties and have been chosen for their popularity and reliability. In particular blackcurrant Ebony is an excellent dessert fruit and is sweet enough to eat straight from the bush.

However, you may be looking for something specific – disease resistance, bushes which will crop at different times of the season to extent the harvest, heavy cropping for preserves, juicy fruits for making juice.

It is better to try specialist growers for these different qualities.

Chris Bowers & Sons – www.chrisbowers.co.uk

Ken Muir – www.kenmuir.co.uk

Welsh Fruit Stocks – www.welshfruitstocks.co.uk

Pomona Fruits – www.pomonafruits.co.uk

Deacon’s Nursery – www.deaconsnurseryfruits.co.uk

Harvesting and Storing

Currants make the most wonderful, flavoursome and versatile jams and jellies which can be inspirational in both sweet and savoury contexts.

Like most fruit and vegetables, they are at their best when eaten fresh but, they can be frozen successfully – one of the few allotment products I am happy to preserve and freeze.

Nutritional Value

Excellent source of	Useful amounts	Traces
Blackcurrants A Vitamin C superfood – it contains well more than the RDA of Vit C Redcurrants and whitecurrants Vitamin C	Iron, potassium, manganese Dietary fibre Vitamin K, Dietary fibre, iron, manganese	Vitamins – Vitamin A and E, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, B6 Minerals –  magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, copper Vitamin A and E, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, B6, folate Minerals – potassium calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper
These berries are low in sodium, cholesterol and saturated fat

Pests and Diseases

Birds  are a major pest with red and white currants and unless they are well protected by netting they will clear all the fruit from the bushes before you will consider it ripe enough to harvest. They can also eat blackcurrants but, I have found that, on our allotments field, they seem to prefer other, easier and sweeter fruit. Except for a bush which is inside my fruit cage anyway, I don’t net my blackcurrant bushes.

Big Bud – on Blackcurrants can be major problem especially on allotments where it can be endemic. Caused by a mite which lives in the leaf buds, the enlarged buds fail to develop. Remove the buds and burn them. If whole branches are infected it will be necessary to remove and destroy the branches. In severe cases, remove the bushes and replace with new stock n a different place. However, if this pest in present on your plot, it will also be present on your neighbours’ bushes and will re-infect your new bushes. Having spent several years trying to eradicate this pest from my bushes I now largely ignore it.

Gooseberry Saw fly – These will attack redcurrant and whitecurrant bushes from mid springtime onwards. The small caterpillars will strip the leaves. If there are only a few, you can remove them by hand – check the underside of the leaves carefully as well as the tops. If you have lots of bushes, the foliage is dense or you have a serious infestation it might be necessary to spray with insecticide before the numbers build up too much. There are several organic pesticides on the market – try Py Solution.

Growing Courgettes and Marrows

Growing Courgettes and Marrows curcurbita pepo

Also called Zucchini, in the UK we normally think of zucchini as short, green courgettes available in our supermarkets. Marrows can also be referred to as Summer Squash. They are varieties of the group of plants known as CURCURBITS which also includes, squash, pumpkin, melons, cucumbers and gourds.

They are native to much warmer climates than the UK can provide so that even though some varieties are perennial, they are unlike to survive the cold and frost of winters here, unless grown indoors with heat.

Sowing and Growing

They enjoy a soil which is well fertilised and well drained though, in dry weather they will need to be watered thoroughly and regularly, especially as the fruits start to develop. I don’t attempt to grow these plants indoors as, although a couple of plants is all you are likely to need they do occupy a large area.

They can be sown outdoors when the weather and soil have warmed up in late May or June but, I prefer to germinate them indoors in pots a month or two earlier then transplant outdoors to their final growing spot in June – make sure they have been hardened off carefully, a sudden drop in the temperature they are used to could well kill them.

Once established, they should grow on quickly and start to produce flowers. Both male and female flowers will be produced on the same plant – the male flowers appear on the end of a long stem – the female flowers will have an obvious small, undeveloped fruit at the back of the flower head. Once pollinated, the fruits will develop quickly and if you wish to use them as courgettes, it is a good idea to check on your crop every couple of days and harvest them before you have a plethora of huge marrows you will struggle to find a home for and continual harvesting is essential to ensure they continue to produce.

With care the plants should continue to provide regular fruit from July until October.

Types and Varieties

Although, if left courgette plants will turn into marrows very quickly, there are different varieties which are more suitable for their eventually purpose. Check the different seed houses for new developments mostly F1 hybrids, many of which won’t require insect pollination and some are small enough to grow in large pots on the patio. However, do check suppliers like Nicky’s Seeds and The Real Seed Catalogue for interesting non hybrid varieties, many of which will be Heirloom.

Courgettes – the most popular are sold as Zucchini – try Tuscany, All Green Bush, Best of British, Tosca, Partenon

Modern varieties now give us courgettes with more interesting appearances – try striped Green Tiger with green on green stripes, Sunstripe with white on yellow [I find the slower growing yellow courgettes a bit dryer and denser than the green varieties and have a flavour I prefer], Atena, Ambassador, Parador,  Zephyr – half yellow/half green.

Marrows – All Green Bush is a good all-rounder, Bush Baby, Sunbeam, Tiger Cross.

Summer Squash varieties – Spaghetti squash [vegetable spaghetti],

Summer Crookneck,                       

 Patty Pans – Pattison Blanc, Bennings Green Tint, Sunbeam and Moonbeam,

Round fruited – Tondo di Piacenza, Tricolour

Harvesting and Storing

As well as the fruits, the flowers are also popular as an interesting dish when deep fried though, it is a shame to use the female flowers for this purpose.

The vegetables will keep happily for up to a week although for some varieties you might wish to have sliced in a salad they should be eaten very fresh. For the small firm courgette types it is not necessary to peel before cooking or eating raw though wash them well before use.

More mature vegetables [marrows] are better peeled before cooking and slice the open to remove the seeds and surrounding tougher fibres.

Courgettes will freeze easily for winter use – wash, trim and slice before blanching for 1 -2 minutes. Drain well and pack in freezer boxes or bags.

Nutritional Value

Excellent source of	Useful amounts	Traces
	Dietary Fibre	Vitamins – Vitamin A and C, folate – B9, B6 Minerals – iron, potassium, phosphorus, manganese, zinc, copper
Low in saturated fat.          No cholesterol.     A good antioxidant

Pests and Diseases

Slugs can be a problem with the young plants as they are trying to establish and with the fruits as they are developing. Keep the fruits off the ground on boards or on suitable plant matting to reduce slug attack and to keep the fruits clean.

Botrytis [Grey Mould]  - this mould will attack any weak or slightly damaged fruit, especially in wet seasons. Remove any affected areas of the plant and destroy.

Cucumber mosaic virus or Yellow mosaic virus can affect, especially indoor plants though many varieties are resistant now. The fruits may be small and misshapen but are still edible. Avoid handling the plants.

Red Spider Mite – on indoor plants. Spray the plants every couple of weeks with SB Plant Invigorator [organic] which will also fertilise the plant and spray every couple of days with water – the mites don’t like damp conditions but, avoid making the area too wet.

Whitstable - the home of good seafood

Summer time food trips – Whitstable

Whitstable, a seaside resort in South East England. This quintessentially Kentish coastal town, renowned for its oysters and its shingle beaches is well worth a visit if you enjoy seafood.

It was a sunny day in June when I visited but, it was just as well that I hadn’t expected it to be hot and summery. A bracing East wind was blowing off the North Sea with little between it and Siberia!

However, this didn’t really matter too much as we hadn’t expected to sunbathe and the warmth of the people more than made up for the chill in the weather.

I went with my daughter, her partner and their five week old baby, so some organisation was necessary and an acceptance from café owners and restaurants that their needs had to be met.

We went by car from Greenwich – about an hour for us. Once free of London traffic, the journey was easy. The nearby A2 merged into the M2. Look out for signs for A299 then follow signs to Whitstable. Parking was easy and inexpensive.

If you are travelling from North or Central London, take the route through the Blackwall Tunnel onto Greenwich Peninsula.

By train – a straight through train from Cannon Street Station in The City of London takes about 1 hour 20 minutes. If it suits better, you can catch a train from London Victoria which will necessitate a change at Cannon Street.

We spent all of our time in and around the beach front area. There were delightful small shops, a farmer’s market, cafes, restaurants and oyster bars on the main street. We decided to stop for a coffee in a small café called Samphire. The staff were very friendly, greeting us as we went in and ensuring we had somewhere to park our pram. It seemed that most tables were occupied by young families with toddlers and babies. All were made to feel welcome. Although we only had coffee, we could have had lunch also – the menu looked excellent.

However, we decided to move on and walked the few metres to the sea front. The busy harbour area was surrounded by cottages and chalets available for holiday lets, a sailing school, booths and stalls selling a variety of seafood – oysters, potted shrimps, crabs, etc.

For lunch, we opted for Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, a large restaurant on the beach front, which was obviously very popular as we had to book and wait for an hour for a table. It was well worth the wait! I’m not a huge fan of ‘seafood’ so opted for the local cod in beer batter – what a treat. My daughter and her partner chose a selection of seafood – potted shrimps, lobster, razor clams [that seafood of the moment which they claimed was delicious]. Interestingly, part of the basement was taken up with a large deep pool of constantly flowing water where, we assumed, they kept the lobster and crabs fresh. Do have a look if you go there and, I do recommend a visit.