Blackcurrant ‘Ben Connan’

This super-productive Scottish-bred blackcurrant produces heavy crops of particularly large berries with a sweet-sharp flavour. 'Ben Connan' (unlike 'Ben Alder') is an early-fruiting variety, which means late spring frosts can be a bit of an issue. However, it's worth the worry for its genuinely enormous fruits! It also has particularly good disease resistance and a tidier, more compact shape than many other varieties, making it excellent for a smaller kitchen garden.

• Fruiting months: July–August

• Height: 120–130cm/4–4.5ft

• Planting distance: 150cm apart

• Fruit colour: Glossy black

• Position: Full sun; tolerates light partial shade

• Pollination: Self-fertile

Hannah's Garden Diary

 Blackcurrants produce their best crops on younger wood, so encouraging plenty of fresh growth will help keep your harvests up year after year. For many years, I didn't bother pruning mine, mostly because I'm just a bit lazy... I always wondered why the blinking things produced so poorly! Yearly pruning has revolutionised my blackcurrant harvests!

They also LOVE a good mulch (to keep their roots moist... of course!). They tolerate a richer mulch, like well-rotted farmyard or horse manure, but will also do well under a more neutral mulch, like bark mulch (not bark chips, they are different!!).