Pruning Blackcurrants

Pruning blackcurrants has got to be one of the most enjoyable winter jobs. You need to wait till it's good and frosty, and set to, aiming to remove old black stems - up to one third of the plant. Don't worry about pruning too hard, old stems are not productive, so cut away.

As you cut, you will realise a very interesting thing about blackcurrants. The cut wood has the exact same smell as the berries. So take time to inhale the wonderful fragrance, and let it bring you back to the summer, when the fruit was ripe, and you were picking sun warmed blackcurrants in your own back garden, and they weren't even making it as far as the dinner table.