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When to pick gooseberries?

josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
edited May 2018 in Fruit & veg
For the first time, I've got a worthwhile crop on my gooseberry "careless", a culinary variety.  Now I'm wondering whether to pick them or leave them in the hope that they'll get bigger and/or riper.  How can I tell when they're at their best?  It's easy with the dessert gooseberries, I just bite one and if my face puckers, I know to wait a bit longer.  And the currants show by their colour if they're ripe.  But how do you tell with a fruit that is always going to be green and tart?
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  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Pick some as soon as they're big enough to use. Usually about a third of the crop or so. This will help the rest get to a bigger size and ripen more easily. The first crop is always a bit tart so pick a dessert with extra sugar to use them in.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I pick mine when they have give to the fingers when you squeeze them gently. If they are rock hard they will be very tart.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Thank you both for your clear and succinct advice.  When I've drunk my tea I'll go out there and give them a squeeze.  I was afraid to look too close in case I found a baby under there.  Everyone in our house loves a fruit crumble so that's probably what I'll do with them.
  • cowslip2cowslip2 Posts: 137
    This week I have been among the gooseberries picking as many of the small and tiny ones as I could find .Doing this last year was such a success, come early July I had a great many large gooseberries. Same variety too, Careless. Delicious, served hot in a cake!!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The first tart gooseberries are great made into a sauce to eat with smoked mackerel

    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/may/24/foodanddrink.recipe  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • pbffpbff Posts: 433
    I grow 'Careless' and the advice given to me by John Bowers of Chris Bower's fruit nursery was to wait until about the third week of June or so to harvest them.
    However, I suppose it depends upon where you live as to how fast they ripen.

    🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    They're as hard as bullets, so another two weeks sounds likely.
  • ChrisWMChrisWM Posts: 214
    Fire said:
    I pick mine when they have give to the fingers when you squeeze them gently. If they are rock hard they will be very tart.
    Very helpful. 
    If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero
  • IamweedyIamweedy Posts: 1,364
    I think I might have neglected mine this year. I had  the rotten nasty lurgy all February and March  but they, and me, were probably slowed down by the bitter weather. 
     I thought my plants were gonners but after looking at the sad brittle stems suddenly burst into life I am hoping for a crop. 
    Mine are Invicta. I am feeding the Gooseberry tomato feed and will do the same with tomatoes when they set their first fruits.    



    'You must have some bread with it me duck!'

  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Weedy, I do hope you're recovering from the lurgy.  The rotten one is bad, the nasty one is worse; having both at once must have been terrible.  Homegrown fruits are one of the best remedies.
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