In this guide for growing gooseberries. We will talk on how to grow them. Growing gooseberries in your garden usually gives you a better taste and color, which is a real treat. There are two main types of gooseberries; for culinary and for dessert variety. The variety for the culinary purpose has a thicker skin, and when it is eaten raw, it is too tart. It is the kind of gooseberry that is used for making a jam, and it requires a large amount of sugar to create a palatable taste.
On the other hand, the gooseberry for desert is rarely available from the shops. Usually, this type of berry tend to be red, and it has a thinner skin, but it is sweet. It is like a floral flavor that will surely surprise you. Both these types of gooseberries are delicious, and growing them will become easy with the help of the guide for growing gooseberries below.
Growing Gooseberries
Prepare the soil before you plant. Dig at over 2ft square section and remove the weeds that are deeply rooted in the soil. Add enough rotten manure and mix a seafeed manure. Seafeed manure is a blend of seaweed extract and poultry manure. These two are the best ingredients of natural fertilizer. Gooseberries must be planted in October or November, but you can plant it anytime, even during winter, choose the mild areas where there is a rare frost. Otherwise, you can delay planting and just plant in February and March.
Planting Gooseberries
To plant a gooseberry, place the bare root plant in the hole and spread the root out in the area. Put the removed soil back to the hole while mixing the manure and the compost for the garden. By gently treading, firm the soil around the plant you have just planted.
Pruning the Gooseberries
Remove the suckers from the plant’s base. A sucker is a stem growing out the base of the main stem. Cut the rest of the branches at about half its length and cut it upward, facing the bud to nurture the plants’ growth. This process is what we call initial pruning. Next to this, you have to leave the new gooseberry bushes unpruned for around three seasons so that the bushes become established. The ideal shape for the bush is an open goblet having a single main stem and a space inside the shrub that allows the light to come in, aid in circulation, and avoid thorns when the gardener picks it up.
For you to get the goblet shape of the gooseberries, prune any other stems that grow inside the bush. Also, include the lateral branches that grow going to the center. Remove the hanging branches that grow around the base of the plant because they will hamper access during the harvest time. As a result, some fruits in the lower part are spoiled. Furthermore, remove the dead branches or dying branches because they are unproductive, and it may cause disease.
Caring for the Gooseberries
Make sure to keep the soil weed-free. You can do this by hand wedding or mulching than hoeing because the roots of the gooseberries are shallow so they can be damaged easily.
Read my other post on cherries and bare root strawberries.
