Help with gooseberry varieties?

[Seahorse]

When I was little, my Granny had about 10 or 12 really big gooseberry bushes. They had quite small green fruits and were tart rather than sweet. They were quite hairy too. They must have been planted in the 1960s at the very earliest and possibly a long time before. I absolutely loved them and would really like to try growing some.

Does anyone know what variety they might have been?

[southlondongardener]

Gooseberry Cultivars

Has a pictures of many types were they cooking or desert ?

Maybe careless ?

[Flummery]

Must be a story behind a gooseberry called Dan's Mistake?

[momol]

Seahorse,

The recommended mildew resistant type (from my book) are:
Captivator
Greenfinch
Hinnonmaki Gul/ Hinnonmaki Keltainen
Hinnonmaki Rod / Lepaan Punainen
Invicta
Josselyn
Lepac
Martlet
Mucurines
Pax
Pixwell
Spinefree
Worcester
Rochus
Reflamba
Remarka
Reverta
Rixanta
Rokula
Rolanda.
Remarka, Rolanda & Invicta produce the biggest berries.
But I have no idea about the colour/growing habit nor any other info. Do some google search base on their cultivar names and hopefully you can get them in Uk too. I love them, they are yummyyyy but watch out for the birds, they love it too

Momol

[Seahorse]

I really wish I could go to a gooseberry tasting! I can narrow it down from the pics in slg's post (assuming it is one of those of course) but beyond that, I can only think I'd need to taste them to be sure

I'll do some further research, although sadly, Googling 'gooseberry, small, hairy, dark green, pre 1960' yields no useful info!

Tahnks for all the advice so far folks.

[momol]

That what we did Sea Horse, we went to the Garden Centre and tasted it ( with the permision from the keeper) and then bought 7 green bushes and 7 red bushes and until now I don't know their cultivar name, but they are meldew resistant.
Hope you can tested yours first before buying, good luck...

Momol

[southlondongardener]

Try this

This supplier has loads of types of gooseberries

Rougham Hall Nurseries - Gooseberry Availability

Why don't you a) look for all that meet that criteria b) then use this link

Gooseberry Cultivars

To look at the picture.

[pigletwillie]

A lot of older non mildew resistant varieties are now very difficult to obtain and to be honest,

I heartily recommend the hannonmiki red and green (the red is sweeter), invicta and pax. The pax has the added benefit of being spineless.

[southlondongardener]

A lot of older non mildew resistant varieties are now very difficult to obtain and to be honest,

I heartily recommend the hannonmiki red and green (the red is sweeter), invicta and pax. The pax has the added benefit of being spineless.

Excellent I planted the red (sometimes called rod from Swedish from red) last year.


However aren't a lot of the older varieties tastier than invicta which I don't really like that much ?

[Seahorse]

This supplier has loads of types of gooseberries

Rougham Hall Nurseries - Gooseberry Availability

Why don't you a) look for all that meet that criteria b) then use this link

Gooseberry Cultivars

To look at the picture.

Thanks for those links, narrows it down a bit at least!

A lot of older non mildew resistant varieties are now very difficult to obtain and to be honest,

I heartily recommend the hannonmiki red and green (the red is sweeter), invicta and pax. The pax has the added benefit of being spineless.

I've got Invicta and Hannonmiki Green, plus several other modern ones and I do take the point about mildew resistance. I much prefer tart to sweet varieties btw.

I've asked my Mum if she can find out if any of the aged relatives might know what Granny had in the garden!

[swaine]

FOR FLUMMERY,
the story behind dans mistake was he was a nursery man who recieved an order for gooseberrys from someone, he sent them and when they fruited they were the wrong colour from what had been origiannally orderded,
the man complained to the nursery and was made to i think refund and give this man a load more gooseberries true to cultivar,a mistake had been made in the nursey rows on some plants/test seedlings thus giving rise to the name
DANS MISTAKE to the remaining gooseberries in the row, not really a mistake as its a briliant goosegog,
ill try and find the complete story ,i had it in a book somewere,
stew

[Flummery]

Thanks for that Swaine - I love the 'back stories' to some of the plant names. Sounds like an expensive mistake for him!

[kentvegplot]

My grandfather always grew 'Careless' and we loved it as kids - I've just bought one for myself although it's not known for its mildew resistance. I'll let you know how it tastes if it fruits this year

[Seahorse]

Thanks for that kvp. 'Careless' was one of my shortlist but I've found it hard to date some varieties. Dare I ask whether you would have been eating your Grandad's gooseberries in the late sixties/seventies?

[swaine]

hi careless is definetley PRE- 1864, (eighteen sixty four)
one of the many older ones still holding its own against the newbies
think is was bred by someone called crompton,
stew