Gardeners Tips

Five years ago I wrote about my remarkable gooseberry crop and yet again I have been inundated with great berries this year (2019). ‘Sweet or, sharp and sour the gooseberry is a remarkable soft fruit. Summer 2014 was been a remarkable year for the size of my crop and the freezer was bulging (like my waist from numerous crumbles).’

Gooseberry Summary Top Tips

• Plants prefer a cool climate and will withstand a windy position with light well drained soil.
• Do not feed excessive nitrogen which encourages mildew.
• Water with a liquid feed as the fruit start to set – this increases berry size and limits splitting.
• Fruit appear on new and old wood so aim for a balance between the two.
• Varieties are classified by the colour of the fruit as Red, Green, White and Yellow. At home you may want a mix of kinds.

Gooseberry Calendar

• Bushes fruit in June and/or July
• Take cuttings in September,
• Prune cordon shoots in March but reshape and reinvigorate by pruning in winter.
• Plant new bushes in November or March if the soil is very heavy.
• Varieties come in early, mid season and late (examples Early Sulphur, Gunner, Lancer)

What a grand way to grow Gooseberries ‘up a stick’ (or Cordon).   Trained like ballerina apples this  Gooseberry variety London was grown as one vertical trunk. Gooseberry London has very large oval fruit with a smooth skin. The flavour is good and is normally a spreading bush but it makes few branches. It is renown as heavy yielding as can be seen below from a 1st June photo below.

Planting Layout for Legs or Cordons
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Italians call them Zuccini and there is a tasty variety of that name but we call them courgettes or baby marrows. Left too long before picking they become less tasty marrows but young Courgettes are great Veg!

Growing Courgettes is easy if you follow a few simple tips.

• Sow on the edge or point down, to avoid wet rot, in April-June.
• Allow 2-3 feet between plants
• Seed can be quite expensive 25p each but a couple of plants will feed a family.
• Keep Courgettes well watered and fed, they grow quickly and their main constituent is water.
• Feed twice a week with a liquid  feed such as Tomorite or Phostrogen
• Keep them slug free or the fruit will be eaten first. The spiny leaves will be left for a later snack but that won’t help you.
• There are male and female flowers on each plant. The female has a baby fruit behind it see picture above and when pollinated it will swell and grow.
• The male flower just has a slim stalk but can pollinate several females. (see below).

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One of the first fruits to be available for the kitchen and table each year, the gooseberry is an old stalwart. Rhubarb is earlier but is not a true fruit but a herb, still both are good in crumbles.

Gooseberries Since the Middle Ages

• Great show varieties have names redolent of our military past such as Roaring Lion, Hero of the Nile, Wellingtons Glory or my favourite Hampson’s Tantararara. Far better than the soppy names used for plants in the 21st century.
• Gooseberry bushes can easily live for 30-50 years and are one of the reasons for their longlived popularity
• Edward I had gooseberry bushes planted at Tower Bridge in 1275
• The young leaves were eaten and used as a diuretic according to 16th century Herbals.
• Gooseberry clubs were popular in England from the 19th century
• Gooseberries make jam and are grown for pectin for other fruit jams.
• Gooseberries thrive in most parts of the British Isles.
• The world record berry weighs 2.19oz and is from the Woodpecker variety
• The phrase “to play gooseberry” comes from the days when the fruit was a euphemism for the devil.

Gooseberry Shows

• Competitive gooseberry shows were wide spread but growing for size rather than flavour has fallen out of favour. A handful of shows still survive.
• Egton Bridge, on the North York Moors National Park, is the setting for the oldest surviving gooseberry show in the country.
• The show is held in August each year as it has been since 1800. It is organised by the Egton Bridge Old Gooseberry Society.
• Gooseberry shows were particularly popular over the North of England but have dwindled from about 170 to only 20.
• Show photos

Links and Sources

• Gooseberry Training and Growing Tips
• Forgotten Fruit by Christopher Stocks