Growing your own fruit and veg has got to be one of the most rewarding things that a gardener can do, and it's a great way to introduce kids to gardening. Fortunately, long-gone are the days when you scrambled through thorny brambles to get your berries - thanks to dedicated growers we can bring you this fabulous THORNLESS variety. The new Coolaris summer blackberry has it all - upright growth, thornless stems and large, juicy berries which mature in midsummer when blackberries definitely taste their best! A versatile blackberry with a good crop of juicy, glossy black fruits from early July, this fruit bush is packed with healthy anthocyanins and rich in Vitamin C, so are a very popular addition to the kitchen garden. Perfect for making puddings, jams, even wine, blackberries are a very versatile soft fruit bush, that really works hard for you. Really easy to grow so are perfect for beginner gardeners or those of us who are strapped for time, blackberries can be grown in containers too, so you don't even need a garden to enjoy them. Not a vigorous variety, Coolaris Early has medium strong very upright growth which means that it can easily be trained to supports and makes a unique feature when grown up the side of a shed, trellis or fence - it can even make a fascinating addition to an arch in spring when it is covered in pink-flushed, white blossom. Fully winter-hardy and semi-evergreen in milder winters, its leaves are attractively shaped and have good autumn colour, making them invaluable for year-round interest in the kitchen garden. Supplied as an established plant in a 9cm pot, ready for planting out, canes can reach 2.5m x 2.5m and will produce their crop of berries from early July to August.
Finally, here is a black raspberry that's really worth a place in your garden and the fruits are just incredible! You'll get a midsummer crop of ebony-coloured fruits with an intense flavour that is much more aromatic than regular raspberries and tests have shown that they are particularly high in health giving antioxidants. They are delicious eaten fresh and make a wonderful addition to juices and smoothies. Originally from the US, Black Jewel is tough, and hardy so ideally suited to British conditions and very easy to grow. It's genetically different to normal raspberries and has excellent disease resistance, the habit is just like a summer fruiting type with berries borne on year old growth. Old canes should be pruned away after fruiting (in late summer). Grow with supports against a sunny wall or fence or alternatively in a large pot. Supplied as an established plant in a 2L pot, ready to plant out.
'Patio Black' is a wonderfully compact blackcurrant, reaching just one metre in height and spread. The currants are amongst the largest of any blackcurrant at up to a centimetre cross and they're amazingly sweet and juicy, reaching their peak of flavour around seven days after they turn black, and they will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks. To enjoy your home grown blackcurrants for longer, they will last six months in the freezer and also make excellent jam. 'Patio Black' is very productive, with fruits rich in vitamin C borne in small clusters and unlike most other varieties of blackcurrant, they can be picked as single berries, perfect for snacking on as you relax in the garden! Supplied as an established plant in a 9cm pot, ready for immediate planting.
Throw away your gardening gloves, because 'Patio Black' is thorn-free, it can be grown and harvested simply and without prickly problems in any space - in the garden, on a balcony, decking or terrace. A compact, medium-sized blackberry with glossy, regular shaped black fruits, the berries are sweet and firm and are produced in abundance through much of the year. The compact plants grow no taller than 1m when fully mature and bear fruit directly on this year's canes so they're really easy to grow with no fiddly tying-in of canes or thinning out old ones - everyone can now grow their own delicious blackberries. Effectively an autumn fruiting blackberry, 'Patio Black' has the ability to produce a crop in its first year after planting, and will get bushier year on year, giving you even more tasty berries - just make sure that it gets plenty of sun. Supplied as an established plant in a 9cm pot, ready for planting out. Use this fabulous blackberry as a specimen plant, in group plantings or as a container plant.
If you love blackberries but lack the space in your garden or haven't the time to gather tiny wild ones from the hedgerows here is the perfect answer - 'Black Cascade', the hanging basket Blackberry! The result of much breeding work, 'Black Cascade' forms a spreading plant which gently cascades from a basket or pot, meaning you can pick the fruits easily at eye level instead of reaching and bending. No more scratched hands either as plants are thorn free. The beautifule white flowers with a touch of pink that appear in summer are a magnet for bees and butterflies. When established one plant will fill a large hanging basket and yield over a kilo of large sweet juicy berries. Grow in containers too - for ease of picking choose a nice tall planter. Fruit ripens from August to October and whilst perfect for jams and pies it's also delicious eaten fresh, straight from the plant. Supplied as 3 established plants in a 9 cm pots, ready for planting, growing to a height of 30 cm (1 ft) and spreading 45 cm (18 in).