Gooseberries

We have a few different types of gooseberries which we inherited with house, so don’t know names. However, the one we like best are yellow when ripe, and quite sweet. They seem to do best in a fairly open, sunny position.

They can be prone to mildew, but we’ve never had much problem. Gooseberry sawfly (a type of caterpillar) can almost strip leaves, but usually after fruiting and doesn’t seem to affect next year’s crop.

I have grown gooseberries for 40 years, the ones I have now are invicta and hinnonmai red. Hinnonmaki are very prickly and not looked at by birds, invicta are great for freezing and cooking. They are easy to grow, just prune them twice a year, a little bit after fruiting and more in winter to keep an open centre and a goblet shape. Make a leg on them and keep the ground free of litter and hoe under the bush. The leg prevents sawfly and the open shape prevents mildew

What do you mean by 'make a leg on them' ? Excuse my ignorance.

We had the mellow ones at home which I enjoyed eating when playing up the garden. Raspberries too and black and red-currants. If we had nothing else, there was always plenty of fruit.

Gooseberry crumbles galore, lovely.

Thanks craftyone, those are actually the two varieties that I was looking at in the catalogue. But I'm puzzled but what you mean about "making a leg".

The leg is just a bit of stem ie cut off the lowest branches, it makes it harder for sawfly to get up there and anyway it makes picking easier. If I could only choose one variety then it would be invicta. I am a gooseberry addict and here in my brand new house, I haveordered 3 x standard gooseberries and will be transplanting one hinnonmaki red from my allotment

I wanted to make picking easier so I actually created standard gooseberries ie cut off all the side stems so there was just a canopy at the top. Then I just sat on a kneeler seat and picked. These must be heavily supported and I already have my metal stakes in position, ready for november when the new ones arrive.

We have ones that bear pink fruit and are sweet.

Many thanks to you all for your comments, they really are very helpful. Really looking forward to November when the gooseberry plants will arrive.

I love gooseberries. They're supposed to prefer a slightly acid soil but mine's bang on neutral and they do well anyway (they obviously have never read the RHS fruit handbook!).
I have one in full sun (the green one) and one in partial shade. Never have a problem with mildew but I have to keep an eye open for sawflies.
I think I've got Pax (red) which is supposedly thornless but there's always a thorn somewhere lying in wait, and Careless (green) but have had them so long I can't remember whether those are the varieties. Anyway, my garden is very small so the fruit I grow is either ridiculously expensive in the shops or never found in the shops. I've just bought a new gooseberry variety called Xenia (new to me, anyway) because it's my best friend's name and it was only £1.99 from Parkers.

Afraid I don't know what ours is, we've had it years and no real problems with it. Something does strip the leaves sometimes so I will try 'making a leg' thanks for the tip 'craftyone'.

Anyone know a quick way to top and tail them? It's the one thing I don't enjoy doing.

Gooseberry sawfly also love Solomon's Seal, so if you have any of that in your garden, keep it well away from the gooseberries.

Solomon's Seal (perennial with rhizomes, I.5m high, 0.3m wide, flowers like giant lily-of-the-valley, but not scented) Happy to grow in shade.

top and tail, I sit down and use 2 bowls, one in my lap. I just use nails to top, I don`t tail, then I wash, dry on towels and freeze

I moved one hinnonmaki red a couple od weeks ago and chanced the second one yesterday, decided to keep those from my allotment, which I am leaving

Btw, bottled gooseberries are lovely, keep for a long time

thanks craftyone

foer the first time since 1976 my gooseberries have sawfly, drat. The ones I dug from the allotment and just bunged in, no legs so each one has branches close to the ground and certainly not the open airy goblet shapes. My standard invicta are clean as a whistle but I cannot get down low enough to pick off the sawfly grubs

I have had to spray, these hinnonmaki berries will not be ready for 3 weeks and will need to swell a fair bit. I thought about nematodes but at £8 certainly not cost effective. I used just 5 ml of chemical killer in a litre and will have to leave the berries for 14 days, so it is systemic which is what I needed. I have been out to look and the grubs areall over the ground, they are very small and green. I would never have found them anyway

I hate using these sprays but no choice this time. Next season I will have taken lower branches off to make that leg, so that branches are off the ground and they will be open and airy

I hope ours will be OK, they are in the goblet shape.
We're just trying to eat up the ones from last year (and the year before) from the freezer to make room, so I hope this year's crop will be all right.

Perhaps it was the very hot weather?

A good all round gooseberry is Invicta. You can also get dessert gooseberries which are sweeter. Standards are more expensive but very good as they are easier to pick. I was reading of a new variety which is practically thornless but can’t remember the name.
Last year I made gooseberry gin and am now drinking it. It is delicious especially in this hot weather.

invicta is my favourite. I have 3 bought standards, at the allotment I did make my own standards and they worked absolutely fine, I used stout metal posts to support them. It was the easiest picking ever. My 3 planted in november, have already produced a lot of berries and I have so far bottled 5 x 500ml kilner jars. I used about half the berries and am allowing the others to continue growing, many of the picked berries were large and they need to be slightly under ripe for bottling, so it was time to pick those

I am looking forward to pruning the standards, a little after fruiting and the main prune in winter. All crossing branches first to form the goblet

I think I must have zapped all the sawfly grubs, there are dozens on the ground. I must keep a very watchful eye next year, from late may