Lol Damsel,your post made me chuckle.There's me just starting out with two young bushes and you're knee deep in them. Have you thought about leaving some for the birds? I'm sure they would be delighted to help you out
Have found a short cut to topping and tailing PF, if you freeze them and then shake them vigorously in the freezer bag they top and tail themselves.
Also Fishy, I have left some for the birds but they don't seem too keen . Now I'm afraid when you walk by that part of the garden it smells a bit like a brewery as they lie fermenting on the ground, not sure that is good gardening practice. I am going to dig them all in and cover with straw, seems that what previous owner did looking at amount of left over straw.
Not sure I can bring myself to pull them out, they are so healthy looking and have produced so much fruit, maybe by next year I won't be feeling quite so gooseberried out - might be able to find some more recipes - perhaps gooseberry wine ....
“Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
I've been reading this thread and I wonder if anyone can help me/ I have a gooseberry bush growing in a pot, it's three years old. Last year it flowered and had about 10 fruits. This year there were lots of flowers and lots of bees round it but I only had about three fruits set. Anyone know why this is?
Hi Pam, Gooseberries are a hungry plant and fare much better in the ground. If grown in a pot, make sure it's a large one and use John Innes No 3 compost with well rotted farmyard manure mixed in rather than a multi-purpose compost which will run out of food in 6 weeks or so. If gooseberries are starved of nutrients the first thing they will do is drop flowers/immature fruit, so lack of food would be my best guess.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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Lol Damsel,your post made me chuckle.There's me just starting out with two young bushes and you're knee deep in them. Have you thought about leaving some for the birds? I'm sure they would be delighted to help you out
Have found a short cut to topping and tailing PF, if you freeze them and then shake them vigorously in the freezer bag they top and tail themselves.
Also Fishy, I have left some for the birds but they don't seem too keen
. Now I'm afraid when you walk by that part of the garden it smells a bit like a brewery as they lie fermenting on the ground, not sure that is good gardening practice. I am going to dig them all in and cover with straw, seems that what previous owner did looking at amount of left over straw.
Not sure I can bring myself to pull them out, they are so healthy looking and have produced so much fruit, maybe by next year I won't be feeling quite so gooseberried out - might be able to find some more recipes - perhaps gooseberry wine ....
Hi DD - hmm,if your birds aren't keen maybe I don't need to buy protective netting after all?
Yes I was going to say,gooseberry wine sounds good to me even though I'm more of a beer drinker myself
I've been reading this thread and I wonder if anyone can help me/ I have a gooseberry bush growing in a pot, it's three years old. Last year it flowered and had about 10 fruits. This year there were lots of flowers and lots of bees round it but I only had about three fruits set. Anyone know why this is?
Pam M
Hi Pam, Gooseberries are a hungry plant and fare much better in the ground. If grown in a pot, make sure it's a large one and use John Innes No 3 compost with well rotted farmyard manure mixed in rather than a multi-purpose compost which will run out of food in 6 weeks or so. If gooseberries are starved of nutrients the first thing they will do is drop flowers/immature fruit, so lack of food would be my best guess.
Thank you. I'll try to find a space in the garden. Failing that I'll re-pot it and include lots manure.