Soft fruits for shade or part shade

Agree re best not having a thorny blackberry especially if you are going to let it do its own thing.

I can’t really advise re a hands off approach although the amount of time hands on is pretty minimal for most of the in my opinion. All benefit from some stewardship,e .g. cutting down fruited canes and a bit of pruning for currant bushes. But it’s only once a year and if you’re not bothered about maximising the crop then you could probably just leave them be and only tidy them if and when you felt it was needed?

I would go for Autumn fruiting raspberries as ime they don’t need any supports, they stood upright quite happily in their own. Also if you do leave the canes uncut you will get some fruit earlier in the season. Ours even when cutting all the previous years fruited canes down were fruiting again by late July (although that might not be the case if in shade)

Also raspberries fruit over a longer time period, like a pick and come again crop. From memory most of the currants ripen at the same time, so it’s maybe a few early and late but most of the fruit in one glut.

 

I grow two gooseberry bushes against a mainly shady fence. They are grown on a cordon system i.e. two upright legs each in a 'U' shape about 2-3 ft high. This makes them easier to pick (and therefore less prickly!) and allows more light/sunshine overall to the whole bush.

 

Thankyou very much, @Pete8. I am going to try that with the CD and twine. It is encouraging to hear of your comparisons of growth etc in different light conditions. I feel encouraged to try growing a few different species. Maybe pyracantha would be a good idea (too), I had wondered about that some time ago, but I will need to wait until that part of the space is accessible again. The area would be good as a wild space, I think. Lots to think about!

 

Thankyou @ricky101, that is helpful of you. I will take a look. Thankyou @Thevictorian, too. Those are more unusual fruits that I don't think I have heard of, so I will check those too. Prickly may not be a problem - I could try a mix, with prickly near the boundary!

 

I have similar conditions - dappled shade in which I've been trying to get some fruit established for the last couple of years. Last year I got a few handfuls of raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants but my plants are all really young still.

Alpine strawberries have done very well - I grew them from seed and now have several big established clumps. They fruit for ages in the summer and it's always fun having a forage and eating them on the spot.

 

Thankyou @lizzie27, gooseberries are also on my list. They are really underrated as a fruit. Perhaps I should grow rhubarb too for a nice dessert!

 

Thankyou @Escarpment, that is good to know. Are you trying out different cultivars or varieties, and have you come to any conclusions yet about any of your plants doing better or worse than others?

 

I have planted a tayberry, a thornless blackberry, a jostaberry and a goji berry along my south facing fence. None of them have produced any fruit yet, but I've been told the rule with these things is:
First year, sleep
Second year, creep
Third year, leap
This is the third year for many of my plants so looking forward to see what happens! I wouldn't recommend goji, it just grows into a huge sprawling mass and is not exactly pretty. Mind you the leaves are said to be edible.

I also have two gooseberry bushes, both tiny and bought for 30p each on the reduced shelf at Morrisons, One is red and the other green, the red one produced fruit last year. Two very young blackcurrants, one of which also produced a small amount of fruit.

And I planted some autumn raspberries, most of them didn't seem to take as I only have two or three canes coming up. I was kind of hoping they would take over and overwhelm me with raspberries. The yellow variety has done best and gave me fruit last year, but only enough to eat on the spot, not to bother collecting!

 

@Escarpment I found the same with autumn raspberries. I have Joan J.
After planting 20 canes, a year later there were just 2 or 3 canes growing - nothing else.
But...the following year canes started popping up and lots of them.
They were concentrating on growing a strong root system before showing anything above ground.
They have spread quite a bit now (this is year 5) and I have to pull up dozens of canes each year to thin them out. The have also spread way outside where I planted them.

I subsequently planted Malling Jewel for some early berries. I put a root barrier around the clump and they have not wandered outside it. This is year 4.

 

Thank you @Pete8 that's very encouraging.

 

Thank you very much, @Butterfly6, that is very helpful and reassuring. The continuous flowering cycle of the raspberries could complement other fruit, so I will look into which combinations could work. it would be great to have different colours and shapes, with pink/red, black/blue and green coloured fruits.

 

Thankyou very much, @Escarpment. That is very helpful and inspiring. I hope to find some less expensive plants and maybe splurge on others, in order to economise as wisely as possible. I would be happy to have some green growth and not many fruits. I am itching to get started.

 

If you don't mind flowers Maigold rose has vicious thorns. The flowers smell lovely!