Grow berries in your backyard

Anything grown at home is a treat, but backyard berries take the pleasures of a home harvest to a whole new level. So fresh, sweet and luscious, they taste much better than anything you buy in the stores, and you don’t get the unfortunate price tag, pesticides and plastic-wrapped punnets. See which of these berries you can grow in your climate.

How to grow raspberries

This cane-bearing shrub grows to about 1.5m tall. It does best in cold climates, but there are low-chill varieties, such as Heritage, that fruit in warmer areas. These will even produce in Brisbane if you shade them from afternoon sun.

In a prime growing area, you could be harvesting raspberries from late spring to autumn if you grow a range of varieties. The two basic types are summer fruiting, such as Willamette and Chilcotin, and autumn fruiting, including Heritage and Autumn Bliss. The type you’re growing determines the way you prune them.

Autumn types are straightforward. They set fruit on the current season’s growth, so everything is simply cut to ground level in winter to make way for new spring canes. Summer varieties fruit on the previous season’s growth, so they take a little more management. After harvesting, spent fruiting canes are cut to ground level. The current season’s growth is spared, and tied to a trellis in preparation for the following summer’s fruiting. 

You can buy raspberries bare-rooted during winter or as potted plants in spring. About 6–8 plants should supply an average household. Plant in a row, 40cm apart. Tie canes to a trellis, or run horizontal wires along the outside of the rows, 50cm apart and 1.2m off the ground, and sandwich the canes between the parallel wires. Pull out suckers that appear where you don’t want them. Mulch your plants well with compost every winter, and fertilise in spring.

How to grow blackberries

Blackberries also prefer a cool climate, but there are hybrids, such as youngberry and loganberry, that will grow in warmer areas. More delicious hybrids to discover include boysenberry, marionberry and silvanberry, which are crosses between a blackberry and a raspberry.

Blackberry canes are normally thorny and vigorous, and can extend 3m or more. They take some training, but it’s worth the effort because they produce lots of tasty fruit. Grow these berries along a fence, or set up a sturdy post-and-wire system with posts 3m apart. Stretch 4–5 wires between the posts, 30cm apart, with the lowest 45cm from the ground. The current year’s fruiting canes can be fanned or woven over the lower wires, and the new season’s growth bundled on the top wire (don’t allow canes to touch the ground or they will take root and start their own unruly rabble!). After harvest, remove old canes, then detangle the following year’s fruiting canes and tie them to the lower wires.

Good gloves are essential, unless you have a less menacing blackberry such as Thornless Chester, or a thornless loganberry. These varieties make training and harvesting a dream, and they won’t grab you while you’re weeding nearby!

How to grow blueberries

Blueberries grow on a deciduous bush 1–2m tall. To thrive, they need plenty of sunshine, regular watering and feeding, and a well-drained, compost-rich, slightly acidic soil. If azaleas and camellias are doing well at your place, you should be able to grow blueberries. If your soil is alkaline, grow in pots 30cm or bigger.

There are varieties that suit everywhere, from cold, frosty climates to the subtropics. In cold areas, grow northern highbush varieties, such as Denise or Blue Rose. In subtropical and warm temperate areas, choose low-chill types, such as Sunshine and Sharpblue. Many are self-pollinating, but some do better with a reliable partner.

Depending on your variety, blueberries can be picked from spring to early autumn. Planting six bushes – two early-season, two mid-season and two late-season – should provide a steady supply.

Fruit is borne on the previous season’s growth, so be careful not to remove any fruiting wood. It’s best to occasionally thin bushes by cutting back long, thick, old canes to a side shoot near the base.

How to grow strawberries

It’s amazing the number of juicy berries you can get from a tiny strawberry plant. They can be grown from cold areas to the subtropics, and if you don’t have a garden bed, plant them in pots or hanging baskets. 

Always start with certified disease-free plants. They like full sun and compost-rich soil, mounded to improve drainage. Mulch with straw to keep fruit clean (that’s why they are called strawberries). Water well, feed regularly, and you’ll get lots of fruit.

In the subtropics, strawberries fruit from winter to early summer, and in cool areas, from late spring to early autumn. Their greatest enemies are wet weather, which ruins the fruit (pots can be moved under cover temporarily), and slugs and snails (set up traps and do regular night-time raids to reduce their populations). 

Strawberry plants produce lots of runners. It’s a good idea to pot up the runners to increase your stock. You can use these to replace two- to three-year-old plants that have become less productive.

How to grow mulberries

I have wonderful memories of hovering beneath giant mulberry trees on the way home from school with a tribe of kids, all of us stained from head to toe as we gorged ourselves silly on the fat, juicy fruit that dangled from the branches.

Despite the joys of the mulberry season, many people fear planting trees because of their size – they can grow to 12m – but there are dwarf varieties available. Also, with the right management, you can keep regular varieties small. My tree never gets bigger than 3m tall. I prune it hard every year straight after harvest, and the new growth produces fruit the following spring.

These berries grow in all but the hottest parts of the country. If your soil is fertile and you get good rainfall, there’s little you need to do once your tree is established, but if you’re lacking in these, fertilise your mulberry tree after harvest and water it deeply during long, dry periods.

Grow berries in your backyard and reap the rewards for years to come!

Header image credit: Getty Images