Buckingham Thornless Tayberry Bushes

Buckingham Tayberry Bushes

Buckingham is much less thorny than the original tayberry plants: there are some weak prickles around the fruit, but the stems are harmless. Tayberries are higher yielding than loganberries, and they produce enormous fruit up to 2" long (5cm). These are extremely tasty, have a lovely wine colour and freeze remarkably well (they store for about 48 hours in the fridge). The cropping season is from the beginning of July to the end of August. Harvest them as soon as they turn from red to deep purple; most people will need nets to protect them from birds.

The canes often grow over 2 metres, but we find it's better for the yield to pinch the end off when they get that big.

Browse our other hybrid berry plants, or our full range of soft fruit bushes.

Features

• Self fertile
• Almost thornless
• Harvest July-August
• Requires wire support
• Huge, delicious fruit.
• Freeze well

Growing Buckingham Tayberries

Any decent well drained soil will do, ideally in a sunny spot, although they will take a touch of shade without a noticeable reduction in yield. If your soil is on the light, sandy side, add lots of organic matter and rotted manure. If it is heavy clay side, dig it over but add nothing to the hole. Instead, mulch after planting with the organic matter, and let the worms do the work.

Like other soft fruit canes, the root system is shallow and spreading, so improve / dig over the soil over a wide, rather than deep, area. Do not trample the soil around your plants while they have fruit on them.

Plant them 2m apart: if your site is sunny and fertile with good airflow, you can squeeze them a bit closer. The canes should be trained on straining wires, which will need to be strong if they are supporting a row of several plants: when the fruit begin to swell in June, the canes rapidly get quite heavy.

Feed every spring with a general fertiliser. Blood and bone meal is good.

Tayberries are floricanes, so fruiting is on the previous year's growth. Canes that have fruited should be completely cut out in autumn, when the leaves begin to fade and wither. Tie in the year's new growth to its support.