There’s nothing to beat the joy of growing fruit for your own table. Val Bourne picks some winners

I recently talked to a garden club at Long Hanborough about growing vegetables, but I’m equally fond of growing fruit.

Both can be difficult because there’s a lot to master. However, I’m a great believer in starting with the simplest things first and, when it comes to fruit, autumn fruiting raspberries are the easiest of all.

Once you’ve planted them, they’re self-supporting, so no wires needed. They crop abundantly, from late August until October, and are easy to prune. Just cut them down in winter and let the new canes grow upwards. They are primocanes, fruiting in the first year, not on old wood. Some gardeners leave a few canes up so they get early berries as well as autumn ones, but the overall crop isn’t as heavy. I prefer an autumn crop, when fresh soft fruit is in short supply in the shops.

‘Autumn Bliss’ was raised at East Malling Research Centre in Kent and released in 1983 after a complex breeding programme involving ‘Lloyd George’, Rubus arcticus, R. occidentalis and R. idaeus strigosus. It was a success straightaway, but even if you don’t grow this fine raspberry you will almost certainly have something raised at East Malling in your garden.

They are behind many rootstocks labelled with M or MM. Those labelled M were developed at East Malling and the MMs were jointly developed by East Malling and the John Innes Institute, then based at Merton in London. M25 (1952) is very vigorous (20ft/6m). M26 (1959) is moderately dwarfing (12ft/4m) and M27 (1975) is very dwarfing (5ft/2m).

These three rootstocks are widely used. East Malling also developed the popular Colt rootstock for cherries, in 1977, and the Quince A, B and C for pears during the 1920s. Much of the current breeding revolves around soft fruit, and East Malling celebrated their hundredth birthday by releasing a new strawberry named ‘Malling Centenary’ in 2012. This good-looking mid-season strawberry is extremely sweet, topping 8 on the Brix scale. It’s available from Suttons (suttons.co.uk / 0844 922 0600) and I plan to plant some.

Plant breeders spend their time trying to better established varieties and D T Brown are selling a French-bred, autumn-fruiting raspberry called ‘Marastar’. This exceptionally hardy variety has excellent disease resistance and delicious tasting berries which appear between August and the end of October.

The deep-red berries are firm to the touch and juicy and sweet to eat — ideal for eating fresh, or for adding to all manner of puddings. Tim Jeffries of D T Brown saw ‘Marastar’ on the breeder's trial ground in central France last September and was impressed by the sturdy, healthy canes which had lush green foliage and a plentiful crop of berries (from www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/ 0845 371 0532).

Rhubarb, although not technically fruit, is another superb culinary addition. ‘Timperley Early’ is named after Timperley in Cheshire, a market-gardening area that once served Manchester. It’s widely grown commercially and at Spring Cottage I force this under a large black plastic water butt: not a good look, but it does do well. You can also leave it uncovered for mid-April picking. Do grow a later variety as well and sweet and tender ‘Victoria’ would make a good partner. Don’t pick for the first year after planting, for rhubarb can be slow to establish, and avoid boggy ground. This is a plant of damp stream sides above the water line. The name means ‘plant of the Rha’, an old name for the River Volga.

We grow a range of soft fruit, beginning with strawberries, then gooseberries and then summer-fruiting raspberries. Cherries and blueberries follow, consumed for breakfast. A bowl of cherries is always a June highlight and so are the blueberries spasmodically throughout August. These are grown in large wooden tubs full of ericaceous compost, for they are acid-loving plants. Our four plants keep us supplied, but there’s never a glut. Often I’m overfaced with gooseberries and currants that need picking, preserving or freezing. It is an effort, but it’s still delicious, healthy food for free.

This year, I am wondering whether the new plum tree ‘Heron’, which has been in two years now, will crop. This 1888 variety, bred by Thomas Rivers of Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire, is looking strong. Let’s hope it’s more successful than my ‘Blenheim Orange Apple’ which has sulked for the last five years, never having produced even one apple.