The health and nutritional benefits of fresh fruit are undeniable, but the cost of living crisis has seen the retail costs of fruits rising throughout supermarkets nationwide. An easy way to offset this is to grow your own fruits in your garden.
Aside from the cost-saving benefits, growing your own fruit is a very satisfying and rewarding endeavour. Having a ready supply of fresh fruit on your doorstep is also a convenient way to add delicious and nutritious treats to your smoothies, yoghurts, cereals, and much more.
In this article we’re going to have a look at some of the most popular varieties of different fruits you can grow in your own garden.
Blueberries
Looking to grow your own blueberries? Northern Highbush variety are particularly well suited to growing in the cooler climes of Scotland. They typically ripen between mid and late summer, often in August.
The Miniblue Blueberry hails from Oregon, USA, and is renowned for its sweet delectable flavour. You can grow this variety in containers within your garden and it’s perfect for sweetening up your morning bowl of cereal or baking blueberry muffins.
The Mini Blues Blueberry (vaccinium corymbosum) produces smaller berries. This makes it ideal for gardens where space is perhaps limited. Whilst it comes in a small package, this type of blueberry delivers large, mouthwatering flavours.
The blueberry corymbosum Jersey is plump and very juicy. This variety is great for starting out with as it is adaptive to different areas and is easy to grow. When correctly maintained, the shrub will grow tall and will produce high yields.
The Duke blueberry will lend an attractive presence to any outdoor space thanks to its blushed white flowers in the springtime and beautiful autumnal foliage. The berries themselves are pale blue and vary in size from medium to large. The Duke works well in cooler climes as it is particularly resilient to spring frosts.
Corymbosum Blue Crop enjoys enormous popularity with growers in allotments and gardens thanks to its abundant yield. It’s resilient in the face of disease and is self-fertile, producing fruits annually around July with flavours ranging from sweet to tart.
Growing to around four and a half feet tall, the Blue Gold variety of plant offers fruit which is sweet, but not cloyingly so. These medium to large berries are very versatile and provide a satisfyingly crisp, firm texture for crunching into. This variety is one of the best in terms of cropping and is renowned for its dependability.
Raspberries
Growing raspberry plants in your garden is a great way of ensuring you have quick and convenient access to tasty and nutritious fruits over the summer months. If outdoor space is at a premium in your garden, you can grow raspberry plants in containers.
The Glen Ample variety is immensely popular owing to its abundant yields of large flavourful fruits. Its bright red hue will add some colour and visual appeal to your outdoor space when crops appear in mid to late summer.
If you are seeking reliability, the Autumn Bliss variety of raspberry is the way to go. Autumn Bliss produces fruit from the end of August right up into September and is able to withstand the first frosts of this month. The fruit is firm, flavourful and has a lovely dark red hue.
The Glen Clova raspberry boasts an abundant yield of small, firm, delectable fruit. This strain is resilient in the face of disease and is good for freezing, making it ideal for your morning smoothie straight from the freezer.
The imaginatively named Bonbonberry Yummy raspberry plant is a new variety, renowned for its ease of growth and maintenance. The cane of this plant doesn’t have thorns which means no nasty nicks when picking! At a height of just 50cm, this variety is great for patios and terraces where space is perhaps limited. The fruit itself appears in July and is large, juicy and deliciously sweet.
Another new variety of raspberry plant, the Little Sister grows to a height of just 8cm which makes it perfect for small gardens and balconies. It produces fruit with an elegant dark red hue which packs a lot of flavour. As with the Bonbonberry Yummy, the Little Sister doesn’t have thorns, making for easy pain-free picking.
Rhubarb
Calling all rhubarb crumble lovers, have you ever wanted to have your own supply of fresh rhubarb right on your doorstep? Well now you can, by growing rhubarb in your very own garden. Maintenance is easy and you will be rewarded with tasty and healthy fresh rhubarb each year.
Canada Red Rhubarb is noted for its sweetness. Its slim stalks have a naturally occuring high sugar content and are very juicy. This variety of rhubarb benefits from a gorgeous cherry-red colour which will lend a touch of visual beauty to your outdoor space too.
Glaskins Perpetual rhubarb is simple to grow and very resilient. In the initial year of growing the outer stalks should be snapped or cut which enables clumping up for the subsequent season. The red stalks of this variety are long, tender, and renowned for their low oxalic acid content.
The acclaimed Strawberry Surprise variety of rhubarb plant has one awards for its flavour at the RHS. This sturdy plant is self-fertile and produces crops in late spring to early summer. Its red stems will catch the eye in any outdoor space and its flavour is renowned for being very well balanced, which means it offers great versatility for different culinary uses.
Grow Your Own Fruits with Hedgehogs
We’ve covered just a few fruit types in depth here, if there are any other types of fruit you’d like to see covered in the blog please let us know in the comments section below.
If you have any queries whatsoever regarding growing your own fruit in your garden, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us today
