ABSTRACT
Freshly picked soft fruit especially strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants are attractive products for any garden. These fruits are examples of a herbaceous perennial, the strawberry, woody cane-bearing perennial, the raspberry, and a woody bush, the blackcurrant. Comparing these contrasting forms of plant habit is a good illustration of the diversity structures which are encountered in the garden, requiring differing types of husbandry.
Recent breeding of new varieties has extended the availability of strawberries and raspberries in particular and increased the frost tolerance of blackcurrants, making these fruits even more attractive for the gardener. Since these crops are perennial, their husbandry extends over the seasons, increasing the gardening knowledge and skills required. Background information is required for selecting varieties suitable for the gardener’s needs and the requirements for planting stock which is certified as healthy and free from disease is discussed. Methods of caring for plants before planting, details of soil preparation, the planting processes, nutritional needs, encouraging healthy flowering and fruiting, after-care and, where necessary, pruning and culture over winter are described and illustrated in detail. It is imperative that prior to planting the roots of all transplants are kept moist. Root desiccation is a frequent cause of failures in the establishment of these crops. Since these are perennial crops, careful husbandry is required which maintains freedom from weeds and from pests and diseases and sustains the availability of sufficient nutrients in the soil.
Vegetative propagation of strawberry is described as an example of how the multiplication of garden plants can be achieved. Once confidence in the culture of these fruits is achieved, there is an increasing array of berry fruits which gardeners may grow using similar husbandries.
These crops introduce the herbaceous and woody perennial plants and their external and internal characteristics are described and illustrated. These are explained with particular emphasis on differences between monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants. There follows consideration of the manner by which inherited characteristics and environmental forces interact. Resultant modifications of stem, leaf and root structures are considered and connected with their importance in the garden. The evolution of wide ranging variations in these structures has fitted them for survival in differing environments. Fruit crops rely for their productivity on intricate relationships with animal pollinators especially insects such as bees. These relationships are considered and other means for pollen transfer considered. Growth, flowering, fruiting and senescence in perennial crops present good examples of the manner by which resources are deployed from sites of manufacture to those places where they are utilised in green plants. These capabilities are discussed in terms of the diversity of crop form and function which has been developed in cultivation. Learning achievements are listed at the end of this chapter.
