Tayberries are a delightful cross between a raspberry and a blackberry that grow vigorously and fruit abundantly with the right care. They can be eaten fresh or cooked into compotes or desserts and turned into jam. With a sunny bed and proper care, they offer great bang for your buck.
Why Choose Tayberries?
Last year, when my veg patch was feeling chaotic, I decided to devote one of my five annual beds to perennial fruit. This bold move meant giving up the sunniest bed in a relatively small space, but now that the tayberries are here, it has paid off. Perennial fruit is less effort, more bang-for-your-buck, and less water and resource-intensive once settled.
Planting and Propagation
I purchased my tayberries as small potted plants, although bare root stock in winter is cheaper. If you know someone with an established tayberry, plants can be propagated through tip layering—rooting long branches when they touch the ground. As with all berries, tayberries grow best in a sunny bed free of perennial weeds and liberally mulched with compost. Water generously while rooting down; once established, they need less supplementary watering.
Training and Pruning
Tayberries fruit on second-year wood. If space allows, train each year's stems in different directions. If not, you'll have the prickly job of identifying and cutting back stems after they've fruited. Wear thorn-proof gloves and long sleeves. All blackberry hybrids are self-fertile, but planting companion plants that attract pollinators can improve yields.
Harvesting and Uses
Tayberries are ready to harvest when fruits turn deep red and come away from the stem easily. As with other soft fruit, pick with care to retain shape. This difficulty in transport is why soft fruit is expensive to buy and worth growing. Tayberries can be eaten fresh, cooked into compotes and desserts, turned into jam, and if any are left over, they freeze fairly well.
Comparing Tayberries and Loganberries
When choosing which fruit to plant, it was a toss-up between the sweetly floral tayberry and the more tart loganberry, which requires the same care as both descend from blackberries. All advice here also applies to growing cultivated blackberries, bred for larger, juicier, and sweeter fruit than wild ones.
