When to plant Blackcurrants
Calendar windows
Dates shift with your latitude — they are calculated from your local last-spring-frost date, not from a fixed calendar.
At a glance
Overwinters outdoors in a temperate garden.
Practical notes
The one fruit bush you plant deep — bury it 5 cm below the nursery mark so it throws new shoots from the base. It fruits best on one-year wood, so cut a third of the oldest stems to the ground each winter.
Knowing when to pick
Take the whole strig once the berries at the top of it have coloured and the ones at the bottom have gone soft — about a week after they first turn black.
Storing the crop
A week in the fridge, longer than any other soft fruit. Freezes on the strig; the stalks rub off easily once frozen.
Crop rotation
No strict rotation group — still avoid replanting into the same soil year after year.
Grows well with
Keep apart from
Watch for
Full guide: blackcurrants diseases and pests (4) → with spread routes, compost verdicts and the prevention this list justifies.