Understanding the ins and outs of growing food is seeming less daunting every day.  There are still plenty of surprises, lessons to learn and mistakes to put down to bitter experience but I don’t feel so overwhelmed.  Except when it comes to growing fruit.  This is the first year we’ve had any semblance of success after moving our fruit bushes into the kitchen garden.

We’ve had two phases of strawberries and now the raspberries are going great guns with boysenberries and blackberries starting to crop too.  I was slightly caught out not just the netting to keep the birds away but the supports required to grown these cane fruits well.  But I have a plan for a proper frame and support system next year that will give them the best chance for success.

For all the times I’ve pondered whether growing soft fruits is worth all the effort and devoting the space my answer comes when you steal a berry and pop it in your mouth.  They taste so wonderful – so much better than anything you might get from the supermarket.  Those seconds of taste sensation are enough to spur me on.

Above: Raspberries

Below: Boysenberries