Gadenin日本語Get the appPlant in the dormant season, on ground that never stands wet
Bare-root bushes go in during the dormant season, at any point when the soil is neither frozen nor sodden. Early dormancy beats late: gooseberry roots make quiet growth whenever the soil sits above roughly 45F (7C), so a bush planted early is anchored and drinking before the buds break. A bush planted at the very end of dormancy pushes leaf before it has roots to supply them, and it spends its whole first summer looking sorry.
Container-grown bushes can go in at almost any time of year, but they establish best in the dormant season and they still need watering right through their first summer. Choose full sun to light shade. Gooseberries take more shade than most fruit and will still crop against a wall that gets only morning sun, though the fruit ripens later and tastes flatter. What they will not take is ground that lies wet in winter. Cold wet soil around the roots is the fastest way to lose a bush outright, and it also brings on the root problems that make an established bush die off one branch at a time.
If bare-root bushes arrive before the bed is ready, heel them into spare soil or a bucket of damp compost the same day. Exposed gooseberry roots dry out in a couple of hours of wind and the bush never fully recovers.
Spacing: work back from the length of your arm
Space bushes 5 feet (1.5 m) apart, and leave 5 feet (1.5 m) between rows if you are planting more than one line. This looks wildly generous when you are holding a bare-root plant the size of a hand, but a mature bush is a 4 to 5 foot (1.2 to 1.5 m) dome of thorny wood and you have to reach into the middle of it twice a year, once to prune and once to check for sawfly.
Planted at 3 feet (90 cm), which people do constantly, the bushes meet by the fourth year. The branches interlace, you cannot see the center of any of them, and the still humid air inside the row brings on mildew. Wide spacing is not about the roots. It is about your hands and about moving air.
| Form | Spacing | Where it suits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open bush | 5 ft (1.5 m) | Open ground, the standard form | Needs a clear stem of 6 to 9 in (15 to 23 cm) |
| Single cordon | 12 to 15 in (30 to 38 cm) | Along a fence or wire, tight gardens | One vertical stem on a cane, easiest picking of all |
| Double cordon | 24 in (60 cm) | Walls and narrow borders | Two verticals from a low crotch |
| Standard on a leg | 5 ft (1.5 m) | Where you want to plant beneath | Top-heavy, needs a permanent stake for life |
| Large container | One bush per 18 in (45 cm) pot | Patios, cold gardens | Dries out fast; repot or top-dress every second year |
Depth, and the leg that makes the bush workable
Plant at the same depth the bush grew before. There is a soil mark on the stem; put it level with the surface. Gooseberries are not planted deep like blackcurrants, and the reason is that a gooseberry is grown on a short clear stem, called a leg, rather than as a thicket of shoots from below ground.
That leg should be 6 to 9 inches (15 to 23 cm) of bare stem between the soil and the lowest branch. Bury the bush deeper and it throws suckers from below ground; within three years you have a mass of vertical wood at ground level, the fruit on the lowest branches lies in the mud, and there is no way in with pruners. Rub out any shoot that appears on the leg as soon as you see it, using your thumb, every year for the life of the bush.
Dig a hole wider than the roots but no deeper, fork the base so the roots can get down, and work a couple of buckets of well-rotted compost into the soil you put back. Firm with your heel until the bush does not rock, then water in with a full watering can even if the soil feels damp, because that is what settles soil around the fine roots rather than leaving air pockets.
- Soak the roots Stand bare-root bushes in a bucket of water for one to two hours before planting. Do not leave them soaking overnight; that suffocates the fine roots you are trying to save.
- Set the depth with a cane Lay a bamboo cane across the hole and hold the bush so its old soil mark touches the cane. Backfill to that line and no further. This one check prevents most sucker problems later.
- Cut back at planting Shorten each branch by about half to an outward-facing bud, and remove anything that points into the middle. You lose a little of the first crop and gain the open goblet shape that makes the next twenty years easy.
- Mulch, but not against the stem Spread 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) of compost or bark over the root area, keeping a clear ring of 3 inches (8 cm) around the leg. Mulch piled against the stem keeps it wet and rots it.
What to write down on planting day
Record the planting date, the position of each bush, and how many bushes went in. In five years, when one of them is cropping half as much as its neighbors, you will want to know whether it was planted at the same time or was a later replacement. Note also what grew in that ground before and whether it stood wet in the previous winter.
The single most useful note is the height of the leg you set. Write down the measurement in inches or centimeters. When suckers start appearing you can tell at a glance whether the bush settled lower than you planted it, which happens on loose ground, or whether it is simply a bush that suckers freely and needs rubbing out every spring.