How many soft fruit plants do you have?

[Doncasterpaul]

Lots of strawberries rhubarb raspberry’s and blackberries as all are very easy to grow. I also have blue (red) blueberries but they don’t grow very well. Some tayberries. But got rid of the gooseberries and blackcurrents as no body seemed to eat them

[Speed Gardener]

Hmm, where to start..I got my first allotment 25 years ago and there was an old red currant bush on it. I dug that up and planted one each of red, white and black currants. Unfortuantely, I became hooked on the things and now I have 3 adjacent allotments with about 50 different currant varieties - black, white, red, pink, jostaberries and gooseberries. The onslaught, as I call it, starts in early June and finishes in late July, requiring about an hour a day to pick them. That's the beauty of them, you can get lots of varieties so that you've got a crop all summer long. They all go straight in the freezer and get eaten on breakfast cereal all year round. I've got too much to eat them all and we don't use jelly, so I'm going to experiment with a fruit leather or something similar to try and use them all up before it start all over again!

[nickdub]

you could always try preserving some in vodka or gin if you like alcoholic fruit juice - we used to do that with sloes.

[Northampton-Nick]

Mine were mostly planted 2017/18..
I cherry tree
1 Plum tree
3 pear tress
4 blueberry bushes
2 cramberry bushes
6 raspberry cains
3 blackberry bushes
2 white current
2 blackcurrent
4 gooseberrys
2 gogi berry plants
2 longanberry plants
...last two from morissons for 30p each

[the big lebowski]

great thread ,fruit can be very expensive i think this is a really good idea for your family , i have

5 red gooseberrys (cut to cordan shapes)
3 redcurrent bushes
1 blackcurrent bush
1 whitecurrent bush
5 raspberry canes ( the area ive got them in im going to let them fill , hoping for 15 - 20 in the end)
2 thornless blackberry canes
3 grapevine
50 ish strawberry plants
1 rhubarb plant
good luck hope you get it all working for your family , you will always have alot of help at fruit picking time
cheers

[mcdood]

1 Rhubarb - spreads nicely
1 Gooseberry
10 Raspberry - spreads everywhere so site carefully
Many strawberries - sets off runners everywhere so plenty of propagation opportunities
2x Blueberry - in large pots as need acidic soil
Blackberry bush

No currants as of yet but considering them.

[Kirk]

I'm just about to order a variety of soft fruit plants for my new plot and am wondering how many (and what) other people grow? I'm especially interested in raspberries, blueberries, currants and the 'unusuals' like jostaberry etc. We are a family of four and spend a small fortune on soft fruit each week, so I'm happy to 'invest' in a decent number of plants. I am pitching for 14 raspberry plants, 7 blueberries, one of each currant colour and a josta and honey berry to try. Does this sound about right? In due course I might propagate some more off these ones (or if I am under shooting significantly just buy some more upfront). Are things like jostaberry and honeyberry and other 'unusuals' worth it or are these more miss than hit? Would love to hear what you do. Thanks!

14 raspberries sounds an odd number, 12 or 15 or 18 seems more like the number people buy. Anyway suggest 2 varieties for possibly better pollination and I also suggest Autumn fruiting ones for easier pruning = Grow, Fruit, Chop, Repeat again next year.
Raspberries spread.

I have 4 gooseberries, and 3 blackcurrants (technically 5 as I propogated 2 extra ones from cuttings but they are still sticks), 1 redcurrant - the redcurrant is weird.

Bought 6 strawberries, now have about 20 strawberries they all grew runners.

Also have 1 blueberry.

As this is for an allotment plot
I would get 6 each of 2 or 3 varieties of Autumn raspberries.
3 Blackcurrants,
3 Redcurrants,
Take a couple of small cuttings from each, place in a jamjar of water and wait for roots.
4 gooseberries.
Unsure about the blueberry, mine is not overly productive and it needs it's own universe of acidic soil. What is the plot soil like? If you can find 2 or 3 varieties you like, then at least one of each as they are better cross pollinated.

They are a bush so they produce more as the bush gets bigger. A big bush may take several years, so crops may not be immediate. Birds eat all mine and I mean ALL a 4:00 am attack and all you have is fat happy blackbirds.

Strawberries not sure of, I never seem to get tasty strawberries. But easy and also easy to get pots of 3 plants (B&Q) so say 3 varieties of 3 plants.

Does no-one there have a blackcurrant and redcurrant that you could take a couple of cutting from to increase the varieties/number. Think gooseberries will propogate the same way. If someone is about to prune their currants that is a good opportunity.