This time last year I was having Gooseberry troubles. I had 2 Gooseberry bushes at the time, both different varieties with varying levels of mildew resistance. Mildew wiped out the fruit on one of the varieties called Careless, the other variety, Invicta, was doing OK. Or so I thought. Eventually it also succumbed and gave up, along with any thoughts of making Gooseberry Fool or anything else remotely scrummy.
I decided to give Invicta a second chance and quickly got to work, cutting away all diseased branches and removing the spoilt fruit – whilst poor old Careless went straight on the bonfire. It seemed harsh but if it’s going to cause problems and not deliver then it doesn’t deserve a place in my patch. Early this year I moved Invicta to a very shady spot, pruned the centre and side shoots to open it up and gave it a stern talking to whilst shaking a box of matches at it!
It’s looking great at the moment and fruiting well, fingers crossed. I’m on the look out for other mildew resistant varieties. Any recommendations?
Good luck with you gooseberries. We inherited a plant on the plot, no idea what kind, and it has quite a lot of fruit on it – fingers crossed that it doesn’t succumb.
Our gooseberry bush was already established when we moved in. I’ve just asked F-I-L, who planted it, what type it is and he said Sussex Leveller. I’ve googled that and found nothing but there are bushes called Leveller so suppose that is what we have. They are a dessert gooseberry so are sweet enough to eat straight from the bush, I do that regularly. It always has a massive yield. Last year I followed HFW’s recipe for strawberry and gooseberry jam and it was wonderful. We had a problem with gooseberry saw fly, last year I think, but this year we sprinkled a bit of chopped corn under the bush in spring and our chickens scratched away and ate any eggs or lavae that was waiting to ambush the leaves.
Kay x
Wish I could help with some advice but I’ve never liked gooseberries so I don’t grow them!