Celebrate summer in quintessential British style with a bumper crop of delicious homegrown strawberries, blueberries and the unusual Tayberry! With this superb trio of top varieties, chosen for their outstanding qualities and range of fruiting times to carry you through the whole summer, you can enjoy a better harvest than ever before. Both ornamental and productive, they will be equally at home in your shrub borders, veggie plot or allotment.
- Strawberry 'Cambridge Favourite' (Mid Season) -
The enduring popularity of Strawberry 'Cambridge Favourite' has made it one of the most well-known and best-loved varieties available. This mid-season strawberry produces a bumper crop of juicy orange-red fruits with an excellent flavour and texture from June to July. This superb variety is reliable and tolerant of most situations.
- Tayberry -
A cross between a raspberry and a blackberry, this fully hardy, self fertile, deciduous shrub makes a great addition to the kitchen garden or allotment. The distinctive flavoured fruits have the appearance on a red Blackberry and can be harvested from July to August. Perfect for cooking, freezing, making jam or eating straight from the bush. Tayberries generally produce higher yields than Loganberries. Allow fruits to fully ripen to a deep purple-red for the best flavours.
- Blueberry 'BlueCrop' -
This excellent mid season variety, produces rich flavoured fruit in abundance in August. Fully hardy, this compact shrub provides interest all year round with elegant white flowers in spring, and colourful foliage set against red stems in the winter. Blueberry 'Bluecrop' is perfect for a smaller garden or a large pot on the patio.
Growing Information
Plant strawberry plants in autumn or late spring in a sheltered, sunny position in well manured, free draining soil. Plant strawberry runners every 45cm (18") in rows spaced at 75cm (30") apart. Spread out their roots and place them in the soil at a level where the crown of the plant is just poking above the surface. Avoid planting them too deeply as this may cause them to rot. Alternatively try growing strawberry plants in hanging baskets or in specially designed strawberry planters for the patio.
Blueberries require a well drained, acid soil in a sunny or semi shaded position. In areas where acid soil does not naturally occur, grow blueberry plants in patio containers using a mix of ericaceous compost and John Innes No. 3.
Plant tayberry bushes in a sunny position in any well drained soil. Incorporate plenty of well rotted manure or garden compost into the ground prior to planting. When growing tayberry plants, support the stems on a framework of wires stretched between sturdy 1.8m (6') posts, or trained against a trellis or wall.
