neglected gooseberries at lottie!

[mrs baggins]

just found out the the line of 2 foot things covered with grass long enough to lose a small child in are goosberries. havent got a great deal of time spare to get around to untangling all the grass what with everything else. No idea how old they are either. Is their a chance they may produce something as they are so neglected?

[Nicos]

Yep- leave them be !
If you have time, cut back the 'grass' and see what happens....if they were poor producers of fruit, I would imagine the previous owners would have chucked them!!

They do live for 10- 15 yrs ...give them a chance to prove themselves!!

[rustylady]

I would cut back as much of the grass as you can, and cover with thick cardboard or weed suppressant fabric. The fruit bushes should produce at least some sort of crop, then you can judge if you like them enough to keep them.

[Hans Mum]

as RL & Nicos have said try & cut back the grass etc.,. and if you can mulch them with well rotted pony poo or homemade compost to give them a bit of a boost goozgogs are very resiliant

[mrs baggins]

thanks

ooh! thanks both and so quick. Will try to cut back what grass i can and try and feed them a bit- poor little things have been somewhat neglected. may have some jam yet!!

[Sue]

Mrs Baggins
Yup sounds just like my allotment, found blackcurrants too (but sadly these turned out to be infected by big bud.
There was a very large gooseberry and as a bumbling beginner didn't know that pigeons eat hard green goosegogs so my first year the bush was stripped.
Last year I covered it with fleece and the goosegogs grew and turned purple!
I looked it up and think it must be a jostaberry and very nice they are too.
So yes, you should get a crop but do cover the bush!
Sue

[southlondongardener]

Mildew prevention

In case they are susceptible to mildew use sodium bicarbonate in May to prevent it :-
Sunningdale Allotments

I have only just started growing gooseberry - so I don't know for certain that this works.