← Soft fruit and grapevines H13-01 · Module 1 of 7 · Pages: 23 · Worksheets: 7

Planning soft fruit and a vineyard

How much soft fruit and how many grapes your family needs, which species and varieties suit your area, where to plant them and what it costs — before the first plant goes in

€9

Secure checkout with Stripe · VAT included · The PDFs are in the language of this page.

Whole series: Soft fruit and grapevines, €39

Planning soft fruit and a vineyard

In short

  • An adult eats and preserves roughly 75 kg (165 lb) of fruit a year; 30 % of it (about 22 kg) can come from soft fruit.
  • That is about 22 m² per adult: 9 m² of strawberries, 11 m of raspberry row and 1–2 currant bushes.
  • Soft fruit and vines need plenty of sun and free-draining soil; blueberries also need acid soil (pH 4.5–5.5).
  • Raspberries, blackberries and vines need a support of wire and posts; plan it before you plant.
  • Buy healthy, certified planting stock. Viruses in raspberries and strawberries travel with the plant.
  • Spread the ripening: strawberries in June, currants and raspberries in July, blackberries and blueberries in August, grapes from September to October.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. How much soft fruit and how many grapes a family needs
  2. Which species for your area
  3. Site and soil
  4. Varieties for your area
  5. Layout on the holding
  6. Supports, water and nets
  7. Planting stock
  8. Work and costs
  9. Five-year plan
  10. Common mistakes
  11. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Soft fruit calculator
  • Planting plan
  • Choosing crops and varieties
  • Planting cost sheet
  • Planning year
  • Questions for the nursery
  • Planting register

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

This guide in other languages:

BalkanDeutschEspañolFrançaisPortuguêsTürkçeالعربية