Hi all Hope I am posting this in the right place. Last spring I got some blueberry bushes and blackcurrent plants and I have them in large pots on the patio. In autumn they have shed their leaves which I assume this is normal, but the blackcurrents then formed buds up the stems. We have had an unusually cold winter for South east England with sub zero temperatures and snow. Is this going to kill the buds on the black currents?
I wouldn't expect it to; however, I would take some precautions: I would move them as near to the wall of your house as possible and bedeck them in fleece when you know the temps are going to be particualrly harsh.
I hope you don't mind me asking in your post Binky but what does bedeck them in fleece mean? I tried googling it but got nothing but cozzies and other garb for people.
Bedeck means to adorn or decorate and the fleece is a crop cover for cold weather. Basically he is talking about putting fleece over the plants to protect them from the cold snap.
Binky, I am in Essex and have a selection of currant bushes on the allotment, and the cold does them no harm at all. I would be a tad more careful with the blueberries, but I have never really successfully grown them - wrong soil type - but agree with Sjoerd and if you can put them somewhere sheltered, it wouldn't do them any harm. I am hoping we have seen the end of the cold weather now and that spring can finally get springing.
Hi, Toni answered your question already, fish_4_all. Sorry about using that word, "bedeck". Our word is dekken and I guess that it just flopped-out. I should have used the term, "cover". My apologies for the unclarity. I have grown black currents and I still grow blueberries in the ground at the lottie. The black currents never had the buds destroyed with frost or freezing wind...the blueberries are another thing all-together. I do cover them with fleece when the forecast is for freezing once the buds begin to open or are just prior to opening, because I have indeed lost lots of blossoms and thus, fruits in the past when I did not protect them.
Thanks for all the replies. Sjoerd, Thanks for suggestion about fleece. I knew what you meant and got some gardening fleece from the garden centre. I have also moved the pots close to the wall on the patio and have raised the pots up on small blocks.
