Gooseberries are small, round thin-skinned fruits that look tons like grapes. Ripe gooseberries are often green, pink, yellow, or white. Some gooseberry varieties are for fresh-eating and desserts; others are for cooking—pies, tarts, jam, jellies, and sauces; and a few varieties are often used both fresh and cooked.

The gooseberry may be a hardy, deciduous, perennial shrub that grows 4 to five feet tall. Gooseberries grow best in cool-summer regions; in winter gooseberries will enjoy temperatures cold enough to freeze the highest few inches of soil. There are varieties which will grow in slightly warmer regions.

The gooseberry can carry a disease called white pine blight. In regions where white pines grow, gooseberry planting has been controlled within the past. ask the nearby Cooperative extension to ascertain if gooseberries are commonly grown in your area.

BEST CLIMATE AND SITE FOR GROWING GOOSEBERRIES

• Gooseberries grow best in cool-summer climates.
• Plant gooseberries fully sun. In hot regions, grow gooseberries in partial shade. Grown in partial shade the berry yield are going to be reduced.
• Plant gooseberries out of a prevailing breeze or wind. don’t plant gooseberries in low spots where frost can settle.
• Plant gooseberries in slightly acidic soil; a soil pH of 6.0 to 6.5 is perfect . Gooseberries will tolerate slightly alkaline soil and average garden soil.
• Do not plant gooseberries in waterlogged soil.
• Add aged compost or commercial organic planting mix to planting beds; gooseberries grow best in well-drained soil.

CHOOSING the proper GOOSEBERRY PLANT

• Gooseberries are classified as culinary or dessert varieties; dessert varieties are sweet and may be eaten fresh; culinary varieties are sour when are often cooked with sugar to form jams, jellies, and pies. There are some varieties good for both fresh-eating and cooking.

YIELD and the way MUCH TO PLANT

• One gooseberry plant will yield about 10 pounds of fruit annually .

SPACING GOOSEBERRIES

• Space gooseberry bushes 4 to five feet apart.
• Space rows 5 feet apart.
• Gooseberries trained to a stake (cordon) or wire are often planted as close as 2 feet apart.
• grow gooseberries

PLANTING GOOSEBERRIES

• Plant bare-root gooseberries in spring as soon because the soil are often worked or in fall. Gooseberries leaf call at spring; it’s best to plant before they leaf out. Gooseberries can withstand temperatures as low as 20°
• Plant container-grown gooseberries in spring or summer; avoid planting them in hot dry weather.
• Dig a hole half again as deep at the basis ball and twice as wide; moisten the opening before planting. Make alittle mound at rock bottom of the opening and opened up the roots of the plant in order that they escape the mound.
• Plant gooseberries level with the soil mark of the nursery pot or simply a touch deeper. Backfill the opening with half native soil and half aged compost or commercial organic planting mix. Firm within the soil to make certain no air pockets remain round the roots.
• Cut back about 5 or 6 shoots to the bottom after planting.
• Water the new plant in with a high phosphorus liquid starter fertilizer.
• Keep the soil evenly moist because the plant begins to grow.

GOOSEBERRY POLLINATION

• Gooseberries are self-pollinating.

CONTAINER GROWING GOOSEBERRIES

• Plant gooseberries in pots a minimum of 18 inches wide and deep; gooseberry roots grow wide, not deep. Plant gooseberries in an organic potting mix.
• Keep the soil evenly moist; feed plants an all-purpose fertilizer that’s slightly high in potassium.
• Repot gooseberries each autumn after harvest; trim roots as necessary to avoid becoming root-bound.

GOOSEBERRY CARE, NUTRIENTS, AND WATER

• Gooseberries are hardy but it’s still an honest idea to guard new spring foliage from frost by placing row covers over the plants.
• Keep gooseberries well-watered; don’t let the soil dry out; irregular watering pot cause gooseberry fruit skins to crack as they develop or near harvest.
• Feed gooseberries an all-purpose fertilizer that’s slightly high in potassium in spring. During the season side-dress gooseberries with a dilute solution of fish emulsion.
• Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers; nitrogen will increase green growth at the expense of fruit growth.
• Keep gooseberry planting beds freed from weeds; mulch planting beds with aged compost or commercial organic planting mix to stay down weeds.
• Protect gooseberries from birds which will eat the buds in spring and therefore the fruit in summer; place bird netting over plants to exclude birds.
• Protect Addis Ababa buds and flowers from frost in spring; if frost threatens cover budding or flowering plants with a floating row cover.

PRUNING GOOSEBERRIES

• During the primary two years, prune gooseberries to make an open, vase-like structure. An open structure will allow sunlight and air to succeed in the inside of the plant and ripen berries.
• In the first year, select 3 to five main stems that grow faraway from the leader (main stem) in opposite directions. Cut each back by half. Remove other smaller branches and stems also as people who are broken or crossing. Create an open vase-like form, an open center. When pruning stems, cut just above an outward-facing bud; new branches will grow outward, not inward.
• The second year select 3 to five more stems growing faraway from the leader and permit these to grow on while again pruning away stems that are growing inward. By the third summer, you’ll have 9 to fifteen stems sturdy stems growing out from the center; these are going to be your main flowering and fruiting stems.
• The third year going forward, prune back a few quarter of every main stem and still prune away new growth growing inwards; also prune away suckers growing from the bottom of the plant. During the summer prune all new side shoots in order that there are just 5 leaves on each.
• At the top of every season of the primary three seasons keep 3 to five of the simplest shoots. within the fourth year, remove the stems from the primary year, the oldest stems, and keep 3 to five of the simplest new young stems; each following year trim away the oldest wood and renew the plant by selecting the simplest of the new stems.
• Gooseberries fruit on older wood; to stay gooseberries productive, crop young stems and side shoots.

TRAINING GOOSEBERRIES

Gooseberries are often trained to a cordon or stake. Train the leader upward and tie it in at one-foot intervals. Prune side shoots in summer in order that they need just 5 leaves; in winter prune side shoots in order that there are one or two buds facing outwards.

PROPAGATING GOOSEBERRIES

• Gooseberries are often propagated by tip layering or hardwood cuttings.
• Bend a low-hanging shoot with a minimum of 3 buds to the bottom in mid-summer and hold it in situ with garden staple or rock. Cover the stem with soil; the shoot will root during a year’s time and therefore the new plant are often cut faraway from the parent.
• Take hardwood cutting in fall; strip the cutting of about the most recent leaves and root in organic potting mix.

HARVESTING AND STORING GOOSEBERRIES

• The first crop will come the second season after planting.
• Gooseberries for cooking should be harvested slightly underripe. Gooseberries for fresh eating or desserts should be allowed to ripen fully on the bush.
• Gooseberries develop full flavor only they’re left to ripen on the bush. Ripe gooseberries are going to be full-colored.
• The harvest of 1 plant will last five to 6 weeks.
• Harvest thorny-stemmed gooseberries by holding a branch up with one gloved hand and picking or sliding your other gloved pass on the stem letting berries fall under a container. It’s best to wear heavy leather gloves; the thorns are prickly.
• Keep harvested berries out of direct sunlight.
• Gooseberries are often eaten raw with milk and sugar or cooked in pies, tarts, jams, and jellies.
• Gooseberries will confine the refrigerator for 2 or three weeks.

GOOSEBERRY PROBLEMS AND CONTROL

• Gooseberries are often a number to blister rust, a disease which will seriously affect white pine trees. If white pines grow in your regions, ask the nearby Cooperative extension to ascertain if planting gooseberries is controlled.
• Powdery mildew and leaf spot can attack gooseberries; spray foliage with a fungicide or an answer of 1-part bicarbonate of soda and 9-parts water.
• Leaves that are eaten could also be a symbol of caterpillars. Control imported currantworm and gooseberry fruitworm with a rotenone/pyrethrin mix; control currant borer by isolating the stem slightly below the borer entry hole.
• Leaves that brown or dieback could also be attacked by the fungus botrytis; trim dieback off immediately.
• Curled leaves could also be a symbol of aphids; check the undersides of leaves and knock aphids off plants with a gentle stream of water.
• Leaves with brown curled edges that look scorched yellow are often a symbol of potassium deficiency within the soil.
• Leaves that turn yellow between the veins (called chlorosis) are often a symbol of a magnesium or iron deficiency.
• Orange or red blisters on leaves are often a symbol of the fungal disease rust. Trim away these leaves and spray the plant with a fungicide or compost tea.
• Gray or brown mold on fruits may be a sign of botrytis or another fungal disease; this will also cause leaf dieback. Remove affected fruits and prune to encourage greater air circulation.
• Cracked skin on fruit are often a symbol of irregular watering or birds attacking. Keep the soil evenly moist and exclude birds with netting.

FALL AND WINTER GOOSEBERRY CARE

• Feed gooseberries a moderate amount of nitrogen and a high amount of potassium and magnesium in late winter.
• Thin gooseberry stems and branches in winter. See pruning instructions above.

GOOSEBERRY VARIETIES TO PLANT

• Tasty red gooseberries include ‘Pixwell’, ‘Poorman’; ‘Pixwell’ is straightforward to reap because the berries hang faraway from the thorns.
• Dessert or fresh-eating varieties include ‘Achilles’, ‘Hinnomaki Yellow’, ‘Langley Gage’, ‘Captivator’.
• Gooseberry varieties which will be used for culinary and dessert or fresh eating include ‘Greenfinch’, ‘Lancashire Lad’, ‘Leveller’, ‘Hinnonmaki Red’, ‘Hinnomaki Yellow’, ‘Careless’, ‘Invicta’, ‘Whinhams’ Industry’, ‘Martlet’, ‘Remarka’, ‘Pax’, ‘Xenia’.
• Disease-resistant varieties include ‘Poorman’, “Leepared’, ‘Welcome’.
• Old-time favorite varieties are “Downing’, ‘Oregon Champion’, ‘Red Jacket’, ‘Poorman’.