Summer raspberries fruit on last year’s canes so I cut out the fruited canes in late summer once cropping is over. Some soft fruits develop in a different way. Mine were under water last winter and went unpruned, becoming quite a thicket so this year I cut them down in December to preempt a wet winter – the exact month doesn’t matter, as long as the plants are leafless and dormant. Their pruning is simple: simply cut them to ground level in February. In wet summers they are often my best fruit crop. Bindweed is tackled in summer and autumn, but I keep a border fork handy now to winkle out nettle clumps.Īutumn-fruiting raspberries also fruit on new shoots. Inevitably, some bushes become scraggy and sterner pruning is needed to keep them within bounds.īindweed and nettles may invade well-fed bushes. I just cut out one in three shoots to ground level with long-handled loppers or a pruning saw (Silky is a reliable brand), choosing the oldest, darkest shoots and any that have flopped and made it tricky to traverse the plot. Some soft fruits bear crops on new shoots: blackcurrants for example. ‘Soft fruit’ in this context simply means fruiting plants that are shrubby (such as gooseberries) or grow from canes (such as raspberries) – as opposed to ‘top fruit’, which grows on trees. It’s always pleasant to see the straggly bushes reformed into neat open goblet shapes. A warm coat and sharp tools are prerequisite. Pruning soft fruit on your allotment on a dry sunny day is one of the nicest winter jobs. Malvern Autumn Show - 22–24 September 2023.RHS Garden Wisley Flower Show - 5–10 September 2023.RHS Garden Rosemoor Flower Show - 18–20 August 2023.RHS Garden Hyde Hall Flower Show - 2–6 August 2023.RHS Flower Show Tatton Park - 19–23 July 2023.RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival - 4–9 July 2023.

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