It was not a great year to plant for me. Crazy amounts of rain in May, June, July. I just weeded around my plants a couple of weeks ago, and was happy they were still there! I put down some biodegradable plastic mulch last weekend, and added some soil acidifier. I did not have a whole lot of hope I would get anything this year, and just wanted to make sure they established themselves. Bit of a mixed bag at the moment. The gooseberries and currents don't look great, although I did get a handful of gooseberries in July. A couple of my raspberries were run over by a road construction crew...somehow...in the middle of my property. Otherwise, the raspberries and blackberries have started to look real good in the last few weeks. I got one whole blackberry! It was the best tasting blackberry I ever had. It was the Prime Ark Freedom variety. Holy geez it was good.
I think I am going to move the elderberries next year, as they just do not get enough sun.
Good call on the thornless. Good luck getting them out!