Blackcurrants

I love my Mum's home made blackcurrant jam. Therefore one thing that I would love to grow are blackcurrants so that I can make jam with them. To that end, one of the first things I bought were 2 blackcurrant bushes.

I didn't get much fruit of them this year unsurprisingly, but hopefully they will be nicely established/establishing next year. We had a blackcurrant milkshake with this year's handful!

When I was visiting my Mum's, I suddenly though 'why don't I try taking cuttings from Mum's bushes'. I'm all for cheap ways of getting plants, and the costs mount up pretty quick when buying these things. So I read up on the internet, and it looks pretty easy (if it works!).

So the details (for future reference) are that I took the cuttings at the end of August, from bushes that look like they are on their last legs. They must be about 30 years old, so it's no wonder that they look old and hard done by! I took them home, and about 5 days after I cut them, I stuck them in the ground. At the moment they don't look too bad. I don't know if they will start growing now, or if they are supposed to stay dormant till spring. We'll wait and see. The cuttings should be taken during autumn, not end of summer, so this is an on the off chance thing. Let's hope it works!