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The original was posted on /r/permaculture by /u/abagofcells on 2025-07-19 13:47:46+00:00.

Don’t get me wrong, I really like growing fruit and making stuff from it. Marmelade, cordial and wine, giving much of it away to friends and family, while complaining there’s not enough empty jars around the house and everyone should remember to save them.

The problem is a lot of it ripens at the same time. The red and black currants, gooseberries and raspberries all needed to be picked during the last week and a half. So far, I’ve gone through 14 kilos of sugar, just for the marmelade and it’s taken all my spare time.

My older berry bushes all grow next to a south facing brick wall, and I know that it not helping the problem. I’m trying my luck with making guilds, and have planted cuttings around my small fruit trees, but that will take years before they start to produce and meaningful amount and even longer before the trees start to give any real shade. How much can I expect growing the same varieties in shade will delay ripening?

I also try to diversify and get more species like honeyberry, mulberry and several kinds of raspberry/blackberry hybrids, but they are not setting fruit yet, or ripens at the same time as the others.

Is there any other neat tricks to essentially prolonging the season and spread out the workload?

I live in Denmark, which I think is zone 7.