I am a novice gardener trying to make plans for my rather tiny garden in Surrey. I would like to grow some soft fruit in pots and while on holiday a while ago I saw some amazing red and white currant bushes that had been trained to grow from one stalk with a mass of fruit growing out of the top. Someone told me this was called a standard bush? Is it possible to buy plants that have been trained in this way? If it is could someone point me in the right direction or give me some advise about how to start growing some soft fruit this way?
Kelly West
Frank P Matthews Nursery, which kindly gave us permission to reproduce the above photograph, supplies standard currant and gooseberry bushes to garden centres all over UK – for more information see their web-site and an article on the main Fruit Forum web-site about the Nursery.
Fruit Forum
As you are in Surrey, you should visit the fruit area at RHS Wisley Garden, if you are not already familiar with it. Just before entering the main fruit field you will find a section of small-scale beds containing a range of soft fruit trained in various ways, including standards as well as ‘cordons’; the latter style (single/double/triple stems) are managed/pruned so as to generate fruit along the length of the stems, and provide a 2-dimensional array rather than the 3-D of standards, which are really only bushes raised above ground level. Cordons need to be secured against wires on a wall/fence or between posts. It is likely to be far less difficult to grow these, or standards, in the ground than in pots until you have gained experience. Gooseberries can be grown similarly, but not BLACKcurrants because their growth characteristics are different.
BUT, before buying or planting anything, go in to Wisley’s Library (near the restaurant) and read the relevant sections of two RHS books: ‘ Fruit and Vegetable Gardening’ and ‘Pruning and Training’.
Growing standard currants or gooseberries is an attractive novelty, but not as satisfactory as growing them as a bush in my view. You will get much less fruit although it is possible to produce some good specimens from a trained tree. From the pictures above you can see that standards of currants and gooseberries are available but because of all the work involved in producing them these will inevitably come at a premium price.
You could yourself grow and train a standard bush from a one year old cutting. By the second year you may possibly be able to get the necessary one metre length of stem. Train the stem up a cane and take all the side shots off and then let it branch out at the top. It is tricky, however, and it might not turn out just as you would have liked. Some continental nurseries used to produce standard gooseberries by grafting high (about one metre) on ‘Ribes aureum’.
We are familiar with standard rose bushes in suburban gardens and standard currants and gooseberries are much the same. Like the roses, they will be rather top-heavy and prone to wind damage. Cordon red and white currants and gooseberries are probably a better way of training these soft fruits. But I am not in favour of bushes in a pot. This means a good deal more work and attention compared with growing them in the soil, although they can be moved under cover and away from spring frosts which can harm currants.
Do you have room to grow fan trained currants on a fence or wall? These are really easy to train and can last for decades in the right place.