By Debby Looney, gardening expert​​​​

I did some tidying and planting last weekend, mainly in the fruit area of the garden, so this week I am turning my attention to the vegetable garden.

To my disgust, my blackberries had died – I thought they were indestructible! So I took myself off to buy some new replacements, and thought I would share with you my top picks.

Blackberries

These are definitely my favourite fruit, and, to be fair, my plants only died due to extreme neglect. ‘Loch Ness’ is thornless and semi erect. The fruit is borne on second year wood, so keep an eye on your pruning. ‘Black Satin’ is a lovely early fruiting blackberry, on the tart side. These cultivated blackberries are not rampant like our own, and need to be kept weed free until established, as I have found to my detriment!
Boysenberries are a cross between a raspberry, loganberry and blackberry, with a deep red fruit. They are a fairly small fruit bush, ideal for smaller gardens and containers. It fruits on one year old wood, and is best trained in a fan shape, so you can keep new shoots to one side.

Loganberries

These are a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry and ideally suited to our weather conditions. They do not tend to go off as quickly as a raspberry and are, in my opinion, easier to prune and train. They also fruit on second year wood.
 

Tayberries

Tayberries are also a cross between blackberries and raspberries, fruiting and keeping well. Also fruiting on second year wood they should be trained and pruned like raspberries. There are two types of raspberries, summer fruiting such as ‘Malling Jewel’ and autumn fruiting such as ‘Autumn Bliss’. When you have both you are ensured a long season, however it is important you label both as they need different types of pruning. Summer fruiting canes should be cut back almost to ground level, and the new growth tied up for the following year's fruiting. Autumn varieties on the other hand can be cut back completely during the winter, as they fruit on current years’ growth.

Gooseberry

Another favourite of mine is the gooseberry, especially the sweeter, darker varieties such as ‘Pax’ which is a lovely ruby colour and resistant to mildew. The worst that can happen your gooseberry plant, and which my plants regularly fall victim to, is the gooseberry sawfly. These are an orange coloured fly which lays its eggs on your gooseberries, but will also go for currants. The larvae look like caterpillars; green, with orange dots, and will strip your plant of leaves within hours! The best control is to keep a close eye on your plant, or use a spray such as Grazers caterpillar control, which is safe to use on edibles.
 

Fruit cages

The main part of my job last weekend was erecting fruit cages over my plants. Birds are by far the most worrisome pest, and strong netting is the only protection against them. I bought the handiest caging – aluminium poles, which can be connected using matching corners, connectors and end caps. Light, reasonably study, and super easy to put together, even for two left hands such as mine, I heartily recommend investing in some type of protection. If you're feeling sorry for the birds, which I do, an option is to plant some Aronia bushes. These are great for them as they can be used as shelter, have very pretty red autumn foliage, and masses of black round berries which I find too sour, but the thrushes and blackbirds seem to love them! These plants need no maintenance, are disease free, and grow in the most adverse conditions…naturally!