Time for a gooseberry revival

We look at a fruit which has an undeserved reputation for producing a bitter taste. Dessert gooseberries which are ripe and tender are delicious and gardeners love them as bushes often crop for at least twenty years

There’s no better fruit for a small garden than gooseberries. The British climate is also particularly  well-disposed to producing perfect gooseberries, juicy, tart and full-flavoured and over the years they have captured the hearts of Britons more than any other nationality. More recently perhaps the popularity of gooseberries has waned somewhat and their unique qualities don't seem to be valued as much as they merit.

We think they're due for a revival.

The gooseberry season starts with the familiar green gooseberries. These are the best for cooking. Use them to make a delicious gooseberry fool or poach them with a little sugar and water to make a traditional accompaniment to mackerel. Later in the season come the dessert gooseberries that are sweet enough to be eaten raw - try them in fruit salads. Usually grown in the form of a small bush, they can be trained to any shape and are especially recommended for pot culture.

Gooseberry bushes are very tolerant of different conditions, although in an ideal setting they prefer full sun in cooler areas. The lower temperatures allow the fruit to mature slowly rather than being 'cooked' into maturity by a warm sun.

Unfortunately, gooseberries are not so tolerant of bad soil conditions. They need moisture in the soil if the fruits are to develop fully. They do not require a very fertile soil, as if it is too fertile the plant produces weak green growth at the expense of good fruit.

The size of the planting hole should be around three times the diameter of the roots but no deeper than the roots. Spread the roots of barerooted gooseberry bushes out in the prepared planting hole, and then cover these with soil. Avoid air pockets by placing soil between and around the roots. Firm the soil down and water in.

Gooseberry bushes should be spaced at just over a metre apart, enabling picking access; cordons can be spaced at between 35 and 45 cm. Keep well watered until the plants are well established; use a mulch of bark or compost around the plants.

To plant a gooseberry bush in a container, fill the base of the pot with a layer of stones to allow drainage. A terracotta pot around 35 cm deep is ideal. Cover the stones with compost, and place the roots of the bush down so that the soil mark on the stem is at the height of the rim of the pot. Use a liquid fertiliser to feed once a week.

In late May to early June the first harvest should be ready – remove around half the crop, giving a longer cropping season ahead while leaving room for the remaining fruit to grow larger. This early harvest can be used for cooking; a few weeks after the initial harvest, further crops can be picked.

Put netting over your gooseberries when fruiting to prevent your crop from becoming bird food. Weight the netting at the edges to stop birds from getting underneath. You may find it necessary to keep the netting on through the winter when some birds such as bullfinches feed on gooseberry buds.

Pruning and training your gooseberries will help you to obtain the best crops. Pruning in winter should aim to form a balanced branch structure while also helping to keep the centre of the bush open – this enables picking without prickling. Cut back leading shoots by a third; prune back shoots pointed towards the centre of the bush. In the summer you can prune back side shoots to five leaves, encouraging fruiting spurs to develop.

Train single-stemmed cordons against walls or onto canes, tying the leading shoot tip into the support. As with bushes, during the summer prune side shoots back to five leaves. When winter comes, shorten the main tip by a quarter, and shorten side shoots to three buds, encouraging new fruit spurs next year.

Check the leaves of your gooseberries for signs of caterpillars and pick these off by hand. Use insecticide if this isn’t working or if there are too many pests. Steady watering when the fruits are developing will produce the best results; erratic watering, or heavy watering after a dry period may cause splitting and rotting in the fruit. When harvesting, protect yourself from the thorns by wearing gloves and long sleeves!

Chicory

Country Gardener’s pick of the varieties

Gooseberries

• Rokula – a very early ripening, red fruited gooseberry. Excellent, well shaped, dark red fruit with good dessert quality flavour. The plants are of moderate to weak vigour with a slightly drooping habit. Resistant to mildew but slightly susceptible to fruit cracking in heavy rain.
• Pax – an attractive and delicious red dessert variety, which spreads to form an open bush that is virtually spine-free, so picking the 3-4 lb of fruit that you can expect from every plant each June, could not be easier!
• Invicta – a very high yielding green-fruited variety, with good resistance to mildew. The large berries can be harvested from late May, and are ideal for cooking and freezing or preserving.
• Lancashire Lad – Dessert/culinary, red, slight resistance to mildew Introduced in 1824 and the berries can be cooked green in June or left on the bush to ripen into a tasty large dark red dessert

Chicory

• Red Treviso – a plant which produces red and white striped leaves with large pure white stems. It is a variety which can be forced and adds zest and colour for a unique mixed salad.
• Biondissima di Triesta – which is also known as Zuccherina di Trieste, produces a flat leaved cutting variety of chicory ideal for salads - forms a small rosette of thick green leaves which are round, smooth and tender with a mild flavour. They are cut when they are 8-10 cm long and re-grow rapidly with
  green, rounded heads.
• Witloof de Brussels – forcing chicory and excellent for crisp winter salads, it's easy to
  grow and very bulky.