I love raspberries but haven't enough room to grow them. I have a loganberry growing on a sunny fence and a tayberry growing on a shady fence. Masses of fruit on both this year. Loganberries smaller but better flavour, tayberries larger and better-looking, but less flavour. Is this because of the differing growing sites or a real difference between the two types? I'm considering replacing the tayberry with another loganberry (easier to prune, too - the tayberry is thorny!) but would value advice.

David

Now I've found it the other way around, the loganberries are more tart than my tayberries.

Mine are growing on wires between posts, in beds about 4 metres apart, both get the same amount of water etc. So probably it is variety types that are causing the differences.

I don't have a loganberry but I can confirm that the tayberry makes FABULOUS jam - and sets like a dream too. Mine is the thornless tayberry but I've been told the thorny is better.

Tayberries always taste better when grown in the sun and allowed to get fully ripe, when they become deep red/purple and taste devine.

I'll second that Realfood. They need to be almost squishy and by heck, they're gorgeous.

Maybe a mite off post. We have both the thorny tayberry (inherited) and the thornless one and there is no significant difference in taste. The fruit on the thorny one are marginally bigger than on the thornless.

What has been a revelation has been the Boysenberries we have. I bought two from Ashridge Trees a couple of years ago. They have been:

• the easiest soft fruit we have ever grown
• they crop fantastically
• they don't give a stuff if it is sunny or rainy
• we think they taste better than tayberries (and way better than loganberries).

Just a thought