Gooseberries

Layering Sticks

Here is a collection of sixteen layering sticks. Two of them are face-on.

The sticks are made from eight-inch lengths of batten or thin trim, and I have used a chop-saw to cut a rough groove, about three-blades wide, at the end of each stick.

The gooseberry bushes send out branches, some of them only an inch or two above the ground.

I place the stick so that the sawn groove straddles the gooseberry branch, and then tap the stick so that the fork end is driven into the ground.

When the inner end of the groove engages the branch, it draws the branch into an arch, into the ground about an inch or two.

The branch bends so that the tip of the branch, with a few leaves, is arched upwards.

The lower curve of the branch, driven underground, bruises or ruptures and from this bruise or rupture roots will appear. Next spring you can dig up each new rooted branch tip and in this way propagate your gooseberry stock.

This year (2023) my four bushes look like producing up to fifty new bushes next spring.

Here are half a dozen layering sticks, each pinning down a low-level branch. This image represents six new gooseberry bushes next year.

Another collection of layering sticks, a birthday present for a gardening friend.

I gave these eight-inch lengths of batten two swipes with the chop-saw, wider slots means less likelihood of small branches being sheared in half.

Here are five layering sticks creating five new gooseberry shrubs for next year.

Friday, January 17, 2025

I found a video demonstrating a gooseberry harvester.

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Saturday, August 09, 2025

My gooseberry bushes look like this this morning. After harvesting one 1-gallon pail of berries I come inside for a coffee and to document my suggestions for improving the berry-stripper.

A few berries are stripped and inside the hopper.

I pinned a cardboard plate to inhibit berries that jump out when harvesting, because of the tension on the stack.

The collection bin could be deeper, again, to inhibit berries that jump out.

A wider, tapered gorge would contain the gooseberries.

When I slip my fingers around the handle, my fingers depress the cardboard plate

The gorge could be wider by an inch or two; too wide and I can't fit it between the branches; too narrow and I can't grab each branch.

I have a set of prongs which I used to make a hay-shovel. Bicycle spokes would work, I think. A replaceable set of teeth could be used for different crops of berries.

Sunday, August 10, 2025

I bottled the gooseberries this year. I have eaten them fresh with stalk-stems and with flower petal residue.

https://creativecanning.com/canning-gooseberries/

"The tops are the stems that stay attached to the fruit, and the “tails” are the flower or blossom end.  Both of them are tough and woody, and need to be removed before using gooseberries in most recipes anyway." Nah. I don't have time for this.

Gooseberry jelly, syrup, and wine

"I can fruit in extra light syrup," better to use rhubarb stock than water, less dilution of taste. "They’ll obviously flavor the fruit, but it’s a more natural way to put them up without added sugar (but also without sacrificing flavor)."

Yes, you can freeze gooseberries But I have limited freezer space, so stick with bottled or jams. "Remove any stems and blossom ends." Nah!

Gooseberry Jam 2 quarts fresh gooseberries

6 cups white sugar

˝ (6 fluid ounce) container liquid pectin

Monday, August 11, 2025

A second pail of harvested gooseberries from yesterday.

The leaves are removed by scooping handful of berries into a boiling sauce pan. Gravel and grit sinks to the bottom of the pail of water.

The 2 Kg pail weighs 4 ounces empty, 3 lbs 10 oz full, so I have 3 lbs and 6 ozs of berries.

I set the pan on the stove at #3 at 1015. Off at 1315, cool down, colandered the juice, pureed the remaining flesh yielding 3lb 15oz – 0lb 8oz or 3lb 7 oze of pinkish mass to be rendered back on the stove at #3 at 1515.

Sunday, August 31, 2025

I harvested two more large cans of cuttings, gleaning about a quart of berries as I went. These cuttings I trim from the base of the plant; in a half-dozen cases I ended up with twin-bush rooted cuttings.

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Gooseberry sign