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  • New Plants
    • In holes during October to March; put some compost or well-rotted manure in the bottom of the hole.
    • Bushes should be about 4 or 5 feet apart
    • Prune branches by half, to an outward pointing bud.
  • Propagating from cuttings
    • Take 12 inch cuttings of healthy shoots in autumn, and remove all but the top four buds. Push them half their length into soil in nursery bed. The cuttings should be ready for planting out in one or two years.
  • Care
    • Gooseberries will crop well with a mulch of compost in February.
    • Keep plants weed free - they steal the nitrogen and water your bushes need! Use black plastic as a mulch.
    • Water regularly in dry spells - and especially in early June to help fruit fill out.
  • Pruning
    • For Gooseberries prune leading shoots to about half their length, and laterals to one or two buds - after leaf-fall is easiest.
    • Remove damaged or overcrowded branches to make picking easier.
  • Pests
    • Keeping bushes open should help control mildew; also do not give them excess nitrogen.
    • A spray of derris will control the gooseberry sawfly caterpillar.
    • Aphids in spring attack soft growth; they can be sprayed with a soft soap solution