How to Plant a Currant Bush

Learn how to plant a currant bush in your home garden with this step-by-step guide. Like glittering rubies, red currants ripen on the bush starting in midsummer. Use currants from your home garden to make Fresh Berry Fruit Punch.

Materials:
young currant bush
large planting container
compost mulch H
high-potash fertilizer
garden netting
small gardening pot
several medium gardening pots

Steps:
1. Buy a young currant bush.
Plant it in a large container or directly into the ground. Choose a sunny open spot with a little shade. After a year or two, if you look after your plant, red currants will grow in abundance year after year.

2. Perform seasonal maintenance.
In early spring, add a mulch of well-rotted compost to keep in the moisture and stop the weeds. Feed with a high-potash fertilizer. In summer, before the fruit ripens, cover the bush with a net to keep hungry birds away.

3. Take cuttings to grow more bushes.
Wait for this step until fall season, when plant is more established. Choose strong, straight stems with lots of buds, and trim into 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm) lengths. Push into soil in a small pot, leaving a bit above the surface. Keep them moist, and in the spring they should start to grow.

4. Replant your cuttings.
When the next fall season arrives, transfer your plants to individual pots. After four years, every winter, prune out two or three of the oldest branches.