🟢 Gooseberry

Gooseberries are one of the first soft fruits of the year, from late May, and are tough, hardy and adaptable plants, tolerating shade and cold. Green cooking varieties are tart and wonderful in puddings, while red and yellow dessert types are sweet enough to eat raw.

Bushes are thorny, which makes picking a challenge, but also deters wildlife and works as a barrier. They can be trained as standards or cordons, or grown in large pots, and they rarely suffer from frost.

Varieties to try

Invicta (heavy, mildew-resistant, green)Hinnonmaki Red (sweet, red, mildew-resistant)Hinnonmaki Yellow (yellow, sweet)Captivator (almost thornless, red)Whinham’s Industry (dark red, dessert)

Plant bare-root bushes between November and March in a sunny or lightly shaded position in fertile, well-drained soil. Gooseberries dislike very wet or very dry soil. Space bushes 1.5 m apart, and plant at the same depth as in the nursery, leaving a clear ‘leg’ of 15 cm.

After planting, cut back stems by half, to an outward-facing bud. Mulch with well-rotted compost and keep weeds down. Choose mildew-resistant varieties, since American gooseberry mildew is the main disease.

Top tips

• Choose mildew-resistant varieties.
• Leave a 15 cm clear stem.
• Cut stems by half at planting.
• Avoid very wet soil.

Mulch each spring and water in dry spells, particularly when the fruit is forming. Prune in winter to an open, goblet shape, cutting back new growth by half and side shoots to two buds. Thin the fruits in May: picking every other berry as a ‘thinning’ gives larger berries and the thinnings are good to cook.

Gooseberry sawfly caterpillars can strip a bush in a few days in spring, so check regularly from April and remove by hand. American gooseberry mildew leaves white powder on fruits and shoots; prune out affected tips and keep the bush open to air flow.

Top tips

• Thin berries in May and use the thinnings.
• Check for sawfly from April.
• Prune to keep air flowing.
• Mulch every spring.

Watch out for

Gooseberry sawflyAmerican gooseberry mildewBirdsAphids

Pick cooking gooseberries when they are hard and green, from late May, when still tart, and later pick the rest to ripen for sweetening. Dessert types are ready in July when soft and coloured. Wear thick gloves and long sleeves, and use scissors for awkward berries.

Pick in two goes: thin the bush in May for cooking, and leave the rest to ripen for eating raw. Berries keep on the bush for a while, but birds and wasps may take them.

Top tips

• Wear gloves.
• Pick half green and leave half to ripen.
• Top and tail before cooking.
• Net if birds are a problem.

Cook green gooseberries with sugar into crumbles, pies, fools, sauces (classic with mackerel), chutneys and jam. A sprig of elderflower in the pan adds a beautiful muscat flavour. Ripe dessert types are lovely raw, in fruit salads and with cream.

Fresh gooseberries keep for a week in the fridge. They freeze well: top and tail, freeze on a tray and bag for up to a year, and cook from frozen. Gooseberry jam and chutney are good for storing a glut.

Top tips

• Add elderflower when stewing.
• Top and tail before cooking.
• Freeze on a tray and bag.
• Serve the sauce with oily fish.