Black Currant : Planting Tips For Beginners In Garden Farm | Aplus Farms

Black Currant is a fruity shrub that keeps on giving fruits plant in every season but black currants planting is easily in winter.

The birds hadn't found them so blackcurrant cordial was suddenly on the menu. Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) is a clever backyard crop for cold zones as it tolerates shade and grows happily where other fruiting plants would struggle. Blackcurrants enjoy winter sun but by mid-spring are partially shaded. 

Blackcurrants fruit prolifically and, as they are thornless, are easy to handle and harvest if a little fiddly to pick. As the fruit is hard to buy fresh as well as pricey (due to the labour of harvest) and difficult to transport, growing your own makes sense. These robust shrubs have few pest or disease problems and need little care, but it's not all plain sailing. 

Birds love currants, so most gardeners grow them in protected areas such as fruit cages or shrouded with netting. So far, the birds have ignored my bushes, but I pick the fruit as soon as it ripens, even picking small amounts daily. Plant several bushes together in the orchard or enjoy them as garden shrubs. They grow to around 1.5m high and wide. 

Although the plants are self-fertile, mass planting boosts cross-pollination and ensures lots of fruit. Plant currants in winter or early spring as potted plants, or take hardwood cuttings in autumn. These grow readily simply stuck into the ground where you want them. 

Winter Growing

Currants are high-chill fruit plants, which means they need a mild climate with a cold winter in order to flower and fruit. Currants need more than 1000 chilling hours while they are dormant and grow well where cherries grow. 

Pruning isn't difficult. Cut back old stems (three years old) in winter to just above ground level to encourage strong new growth from the base of the plant. Even if blackcurrants are not pruned they'll still crop, but fruit is produced on young wood.

Feed in spring as growth resumes and water plants well, especially during dry summers. Keep their roots cool with a layer of organic mulch. Currants fruit in summer and are ready to pick when the small, round berries are shiny and well coloured. 

Blackcurrants are tangy straight from the bush, but even more delicious made into cordial, jam or jelly. They ripen gradually, so freezing is a good way to accumulate enough fruit through the harvest season for a batch of cordial or blackcurrant jam. 

Blackcurrants are high in vitamin C but also have other health benefits. Studies in New Zealand suggest they aid mental performance and reduce the activity of monoamine oxidases, which means blackcurrant extracts may be useful in managing symptoms of Parkinson's disease.  

Planting Tips and Tricks

Blackcurrants are often stocked in garden centres and hardware stores in temperate and coastal areas that lack cold winter temperatures, which may mean there will be no flowers or fruit produced on these cold-loving plants. Currants used in fruitcakes and currant buns are dried grapes, not dried black currants.

Scientific Black Currant

• Common name: Blackcurrant 
• Botanical name: Ribes nigrum 
• Family: Grossulariaceae 
• Aspect & soil: Full sun to part shade; well-drained soil 
• Best climate: Cold 
• Habit: Deciduous shrub 
• Propagation: Hardwood cuttings, potted plants 
• Difficulty: Easy