Planting guide

When to plant currant

Black, red and white currants are cool-climate bushes with tart, vitamin-rich berries. In Melbourne it goes in Mar–Jan.

Start as: Potted plant or Bare-root plant
Ready in: 2+ years to the first crop
Spacing: 120 cm
Depth: 0 cm
Sun: Half a day (3–6 hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Some care
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means currant can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's real monthly temperatures, not a zone map. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Melbourne	●	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Perth	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Adelaide	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Newcastle	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Sunshine Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Townsville	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Cairns	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Toowoomba	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Darwin	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Bendigo	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Mackay	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Rockhampton	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Coffs Harbour	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Bundaberg	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Alice Springs	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mildura	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Port Macquarie	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
London	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Manchester	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Edinburgh	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Dublin	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
New York City	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	○
Los Angeles	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Chicago	○	○	○	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	○
Seattle	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Austin	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●
Toronto	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	○
Vancouver	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Cape Town	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Johannesburg	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Mumbai	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○
Paris	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Berlin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○

How to plant currant

Plant bare-root in winter in sun or part shade.
Mulch deeply and keep roots cool.
Prune out old wood after fruiting.
Pick whole trusses when berries are fully coloured.

Currant varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Ben LomondClassiccold-hardy · 13–17 wksVitamin-rich, tangy berries
Ben SarekClassicdwarf · pot-friendly · 13–17 wksCompact blackcurrant
Red LakeClassicheavy-cropper · 13–17 wksGlossy red translucent berries
White VersaillesAdventurouscolourful · sweet · 13–17 wksSweet, pale-pink berries

Where to buy seedlings

Search on QP Seedlings Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Garlic, Chive, Onion

Currant by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Strawberry · Blueberry · Raspberry · Blackberry & boysenberry · Gooseberry

Not sure currant is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now →