You could be planting:

Fruit Bushes

Now is a good time to plant out soft fruit bushes such as blackcurrants and blueberries. Bearing in mind the school holidays, late cropping varieties are best. If you have raised beds don’t use up the space with fruit bushes as it is unnecessary and takes up too much room. Fruit bushes will be happy in open soil which has been improved with compost or manure. Choose a sheltered and sunny position if possible. Plant 1.5m (5ft) apart.

• Blueberries need added ericaceous (acid) compost. Good quality potted fruit bushes cost approx. £15 each but a cheaper option is bare-rooted plants which are available between late November to late March.
• For blackcurrants try Ben Alder.
• For Blueberries the varieties Jersey or Goldtraube are suitable.
• Raspberries - autumn fruiting raspberries are best as they usually crop after the school summer holidays and they are very easy to prune – basically you just cut them all down when they have finished fruiting and they will start to regrow again in the spring.

Fruit Tress

Fruit trees, once established create a food growing legacy in any school. They will be there, and productive for at least a generation all being well. Modern varieties of fruit trees don’t need to take up a lot of room.

Developed for smaller gardens, lots of varieties are now available on dwarfing rootstock which means you can fit more in, the fruit is easier to pick and the trees are simple to prune. Dwarf fruit trees and columnar fruit trees can be grown in large pots.

Heritage and native varieties of fruit are important, and if you have the room then choose a traditional variety. Heritage varieties are also available of dwarfing rootstocks now if bought from a specialist supplier such as Brogdale or Irish Seed Savers.

You can read more about root stocks, but basically the smaller ones are:

• M27 – extreme dwarfing – grow up to 1.8m (6ft) – plant 2m apart or in a large pot
• M9 – dwarfing – grow up to 2.2m (8ft) – plant 2.5m apart or in large pot – requires staking.
• M26 – semi dwarfing – grow up to 3m (10ft) – plant 3m apart – fruit in 3-4 years.

To add to the complication, fruit trees bloom at different times so require a pollinator which blooms at around the same time. Fruit trees are categorised into flowering groups though, early, mid and late season. Think about a variety of apples, plums, pears etc. which will help pollinate each other.

If you only have room for one tree, chose a self-fertile one. Family fruit trees can also be purchased with 3 varieties grafted onto the same tree.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb is technically a vegetable, but since it is usually eaten in sweet dishes, we normally think of it as a fruit – and what a useful fruit it is too. Rhubarb plants need no special care and once established will produce rhubarb stalks throughout the summer and into autumn for many years. Rhubarb crowns should be planted between late November and late March, although potted plants can be planted almost any time, except in mid-summer if there is no one to water the new plants regularly.