How to Grow Blackcurrants || Black Gumbo

[@Katydidit]

We had a red currant bush when I was a child. We made currant jelly every year. It makes a lovely glaze on Salmon and chicken :)

[@GardenerScott]

Great video, Scott! Black currants are absolutely special! I've enjoyed them for years. At my school garden the kids would pass up raspberries and strawberries to get to the currants. They make fantastic jelly and jam. I hope they do well for you.

[@ScottHead]

We shall see. Where I planted they get the shade during the hottest part of the day but should have sufficient sun early in the day. I may have to resort to shade cloth at some point, but I'd regret not trying to grow these.

[@Conny-tk8md]

@@ScottHead I ordered mine from a nursery near Atlanta, GA, and tried growing them in containers here in Northwest Florida, zone 8b, but they're not doing well. They don't like the long, hot, humid summer season. - I wish you luck! Keep us posted!

[@bevginanni3741]

I love black currants. My dad grew them on his ditch bank in Southern NM 60 years ago. I didn't realize they had been made illegal. Glad they are back.

[@jeannamcgregor9967]

I'm still delighting in my annual crops but I figure as I get older I'll be happy to have mature perennials in the garden. The best time to plant perennials is now!

[@garynorcal4269]

I especially liked seeing the result on the native soil beneath the hugelkultur bed. The whole video was great, but that one moment with the native soil was fantastic to see.

[@ebradley2306]

Love currants. I might have to get a couple plants. Grew up eating dried currants in cookies in Canada which I still make in TX at Christmas every year. Tasty in scones as well. I prefer currants to raisins.

[@SuzMcDonaldWellbeing]

I always wondered why blackcurrants weren’t much known about in the USA. Now I do. The first fruit bush I bought for our garden when we moved back to Scotland after 22 years overseas was blackcurrant. I have many happy memories of picking blackcurrants in my Mum’s. Garden as a child. I’m looking forward to picking the fruit this summer.

[@master11pizza63]

Please be aware the legality of growing currents continues to vary by state and variety. For instance in Ohio the European Black current is still banned. Varieties produced by the hybridization of Ribes nigrum L. or a variety thereof with a resistant or immune species, known to be immune or highly resistant to the White Pine Blister Rust fungus, (Cronartium ribicola, Fischer) are exempt from the restrictions.

[@scwheeler24]

I didn’t know they would grow here. I thought they were a northern berry. I love this black currant jam I get in H‑E‑B and wished I could grow them. Now I will try!

[@CraftEccentricity]

Can't wait to get my hands on those. Ribena is my husbands favorite drink.

[@karenw9996]

I've got a red currant in my backyard, just because I remember having one on the farm growing up, and when we'd be out playing & get hungry we'd grab a handful & eat them, as well as rhubarb stalks. Can't handle that much sour anymore!

[@lannylancaster62]

Thanks for the information Scott. I did not know the story behind currants. I've worked with some UK gardeners through the years. They love their currants. I wish you much success. I'll be following their progress.

[@Green.Country.Agroforestry]

In most of the world, 'purple' beverage or candy flavor is currant flavor, not grape! The first bunch of currants we planted got wiped by the drought last year, but we haven't given up on them, yet!

[@mostuniquemary]

"This used to be illegal, let's grow it!" Love it! I'm a fan of rebel gardening....even though currents are legal now. lol. I also think it's pretty cool you're growing something in memory of your Mom and Grandma. Ishikura are great green onions! They can also take the cool/cold springs up here. The late freeze didn't kill my direct sown starts! You can also plant them around the perimeter of the bed, it'll help deter things like rabbits. I do that in 50% of my beds.

[@awkwardtexasstranger5660]

This is exciting-I LOVE currants and didn't think they would succeed here! Looking forward to your success, and to an update as they wake up for spring.

[@drago6576]

I have been overwintering peppers as perennials for the last 4 years. Works pretty well for my bottom line. 😂

[@enigmaticreverieproduction5169]

Thank you for another great video! I’m excited to see these grow, show us as they come alive :)

[@amsohn1]

Thank you for letting us know where you got these the bareroot plants? Borage is also a fantastic medical herb!! Blessings ❤

[@dogslobbergardens-hv2wf]

I just got a couple black currants in, too. Super excited about adding more and more perennials.

[@noramaegomez197]

Hey Scott! I’m so excited I just wanted to tell you that I was able to get in my backyard and spread some more planter mix and I saw five small tomato plants coming up. Maybe 5 inches tall ! I’m so happy because I was going to go to Armstrong’s nursery and get my tomatoes today !

[@simplehomesteadliving]

Onions and garlic are great pest control for berries. I make a garlic and onion spray for soil, leaves, etc. Then scatter the mash strained out from making the spray, around the plants.

[@jordanmarieorganics]

I absolutely love your videos, sir! Each one is full of great information and you are so down-to-earth that it really makes them enjoyable to watch. You do a great job 😊

[@RachellesGardenDiary]

Oregon has two native currants. One is called golden currant, and the other is red flowering currant.

[@blake775]

I just ordered a black consort and a red lake currant variety after watching this video, zone 7b in GA - thanks Scott

[@growingandcooking7278]

I’m going to follow this with great interest. I’m in ATX and tried growing currants on the north side of my house to protect them from the heat. With last year’s brutal summer, they didn’t make it. I hope you have better luck.

[@tangell481]

Hi Scott nice addition to your garden all the best for them will follow

[@jenniferlroberts5994]

Thank you for the information! I had read about that disease with the pine trees and didn't order currants. They said the same thing about gooseberries. I didn't know currants had been illegal to grow. But, now that I don't have to worry about the pine trees, I'll place an order.

[@lidiyaagne8381]

Currant plants have shallow roots. Save all your potatoes peel to fertilize your currant bushes. I grew up in Europe and we had few bushes they grow big. Very nutritious berries. My currant bush is big. Ps take cuttings in fall stick them in at 90 degree and they will root or bend a branch cover with ground it will grow.

[@sarahkirbach5040]

Leek quiche is my absolute favorite thing to to with them aside from leek & potato soup 😊

[@onshaw]

That juice you drank as a kid was Ribena. Do NOT buy it now and expect it to be the same. It is nasty stuff! What we grew up with was delicious. They replaced the sugar with some vile-tasting carcinogenic sugar substitute. I ordered a bottle a couple months ago and threw it out after one taste and after reading up on the chemical sweetener. I also ordered bare root plants so - like you - I can make my own juice. Also am planting them in a raised bed like you, so your video is perfect timing for me as they are going in this week. Thanks for the tip on not amending the soil.

[@ThePoorStudent]

There are 2 versions of Ribena. I tried the one in the curvy bottle and it’s bad. However, if you can find the other bottle, that one does not have the weird sweetener.

[@gangofgreenhorns2672]

Whatever the pine fungus they were trying to prevent was, it already exists on the black raspberries that grow wild on my property. Didn't know it was a big deal for pines until I learned about currants.

[@scottstephenson9597]

In Louisiana, Lafayette I think this black current was here growing probably at lease 60 years ago because I'll be 70 next month but I know my aunt had one I love to pick and eat them.

[@billmoore6688]

Good video. You sound happy. I may try planting some.

[@wendyburston3132]

I thought a container needed container soil but I guess if it's draining well it's the same? The squirrels love to plant peanuts in my garden, and black walnuts. One year they planted 5 really big sunflowers in front of my mother-in-law's Rose bush. I couldn't figure it out till a few years later caught them at it. They bring me interesting plants sometimes, it makes life interesting 😊

[@raydel5732]

Thanks Scott

[@ScottHead]

Hope you are doing well, Ray.

[@jo-annjewett198]

I just ordered two varieties of black currants watching your video. Both varieties said zone 9 so fingers crossed. I am on the Gulf but I think if I give them dappled sun and lots of water I might make it work.

[@ScottHead]

Yeah they said Zone 9 so I took the chance, hop we both get good results.

[@jeffgegos7333]

Jostaberry are really cool there hybrids between gooseberries, black currants, Native American currants and red currants you should grow them to.

[@kath-phlox]

I grow Ishikura, they are still in my garden from last year. We had -15C in December, the onions ar still there, looking a little sad. But I read they are perennial, I'll put some more this year. I freeze leeks, they are not as good as fresh and are very watery. But, they make better food than compost ;)

[@c.c.9539]

thank you!

[@WILLITGROW]

i hope they do well

[@Junzar56]

Yum! Raspberries must not do well where you are.

[@iartistdotme]

I've never had an experience with bunching onions but bought some starts and planted them in my greenstalks in January. You dis something that really has me worried. I separated mine into individual onions but you planted the whole bunch. Then you said something about clipping the tops for eating. I'm TOTALLY confused. Was I suppose to plant them as a bunch? Do I not separate them? Do I not pull them to eat? I have so much to learn!!!!! I love the way the white currants looked in your picture - gorgeous!

[@ScottHead]

You can do bunching onions however you want, I just let them grow all together and cut the green onion part when I need them, they grow back.

[@vonries]

You might want to clip the tops of those onions. I'm sure you lost a lot of roots removing them from the beds. You want to remove some of the leaves so it does not lose so much water. The roots can't absorb enough water yet. Think of it like a tree trim the roots, trim the top. Trim the top, trim the roots?

[@lynnerskine3346]

Good morning.

[@pd8559]

Raspberries don’t grow well here either. Usually what they sell as raspberries in Texas are actually Australian Thimbleberries. Or more correctly a hybrid of thimbleberry done if I recall in a university in Mississippi. I have three of these “raspberries” in the backyard. They don’t grow erect so you will need to trellis them.

[@metalrabbit09]

When do you transplant or plant the Ishikura onions? How many weeks under the grow lights? Thanks.

[@ScottHead]

They were planted outside at 2"-3" tall, but you can direct seed them in the fall or spring and they will do fine.

[@prattsmark1]

Back currants are still banned in the state of Virginia unfortunately. I was able to get red currants and gooseberries shipped here from Stark Brothers.

[@sandrasmith2137]

I purchased 5 Elderberry and 10 Nectarberry bare root plants, will the way you planted the current also apply to these plants? Information I have gotten on the net contradicts and is confusing. I live in Spokane Valley, Washington and we still freeze at night. If these survive, I may get currants next year.

[@ScottHead]

Yes, should be the same. Elderberry is especially easy and hard to go wrong.

[@craigslistsales4424]

Your raised bed sprung a leek. I just planted jostaberries yesterday.

[@gryphonrampant24]

I put in some bareroot trees this winter. they came in the mail right after we'd had a heavy rain, and the sticky red clay was so wet I worried that giving the plant a good soaking in the already-saturated ground would drown the poor thing. Is that a real danger? Also, do you have any suggestions for getting sticky clay soil in around those roots? It tends to stretch like modeling clay rather than crumbling. Thanks!

[@ScottHead]

With clay there is a sweet spot in its drying out process where it is workable - not sticky, not rock hard. The best time to plant is when that time happens, but we usually don't have that luxury. In your case, I would use some commercial fill dirt or topsoil (nothing amended) to help fill in the gaps.

[@tristinchristenson6349]

Do you suppose I shouldn't fertilize a dug up piece I got from a yard local to me? I know its established for my climate, the soil it is in now is better than what it grew in. It was planted last september and is begining to wake up. It is in a 25 gallon container. Let me know what you think. I was considering top dressing with aged manure.

[@Youdontknowmeson1324]

There is kinds native to USA like American black currant that grow wild and are native.

[@williamvillar2519]

I've tried currants and gooseberries several times but our summers kill them.

[@4Renee9]

What zone are you? I’m in 8b - (central Louisiana) can they take the heat in my area?

[@ScottHead]

9a, you should be perfect for growing them.

[@billiemcfarlen9070]

Can currants grow in hot and sunny? I tried to grow some in Abilene and they didn’t make it in our hot summer.

[@ScottHead]

We will find out. I may have to shade them a bit but where I planted they get shaded from the hottest part of the day.

[@noahriding5780]

Is it possible that currants becoming illegal to grow might have something to do with how they affect livestock?

[@sonnyamoran7383]

What do they taste like or what are they similar to?

[@ScottHead]

They are their own flavor, sort of grape/blackberry but really their own flavor.

[@sonnyamoran7383]

@@ScottHead thank you. I may have to try them. Should do well in my food forest. 😋

[@suzannegangs5204]

will they survive our summer heat

[@ScottHead]

We shall see. I think I can coax them through.

[@raychel3548]

Did these survive the summer?

[@ScottHead]

Nope, not any of them. Totally scorched. I might try again, I basically abandoned the garden this past summer but if I had shaded them and kep better watering I think they could have pulled through.

[@raychel3548]

@@ScottHead so sorry to hear that! The reason I asked is, even though currants can be grown in zone 8, they do better on the west coast (Washington/Oregon) than the south, because of our blistering summers. I want to grow them, but am not confident I could get them to survive.

[@tpaw6908]

👍 . ❤🙏💯

[@ToadalSimplicity]

Hah! See what you did there - “currant-ly not that productive”