Gooseberry Bush Disaster!

[superfly78]

I planted a gooseberry bush a few months ago and it has been coming on leap and bounds but when I got home today the back wall of the garden had collapsed and completely flattened my poor bush (its a rickety old victorian wall that was fairly weak)! Given that it was pretty squashed and some of the branches are bent and partially broken, do you think it will recover? I have propped all the branches back up and covered the lower branches in compost.

[veggiechicken]

You could cut off some of the broken branches and stick them in the ground as cuttings. Gooseberry bushes are pretty robust I've found so it will probably survive. Look on it as heavy pruning!!

[superfly78]

You could cut off some of the broken branches and stick them in the ground as cuttings. Gooseberry bushes are pretty robust I've found so it will probably survive. Look on it as heavy pruning!!

haha thanks I was trying to tell myself that so now that you have said it too I feel better! Definitely wont be getting any gooseberries this year!

[sammy_roser]

I planted my gooseberry bush last year and it was coming on leaps and bounds until the wind took 2/3rds of the branches and bent the rest out of shape, this year the branches that survived are covered in fruit!

How young are your bushes? I doubt they would fruit in the first year you've planted them unless they were fairly established.

[FB.]

I think your bush will recover, even if it ends up regrowing from the roots.
I would just leave the bush as it is as far as practical (damaged branches and all) and tidy it up properly in the autumn after the leaves fall - it will then regrow normally next year.

[KittyColdNose]

The dog beat me to the fruit on mine last year. I pruned it that "well" laast year that I though I had killed it. It is bigger than ever now! Oh, and I found out by accident about cuttings taking root... The bits I pruned got stuck into various pots to keep said dog away from fruit (she likes quince too) and I was surprised that they ALL grew buds this spring and are noww in full leaf Gooseberry twig/potential bush anyone

[AkionTotocha]

My gran had an old gooseberry that was older than me (and probably a cutting from a bush from WW2, knowing how my granddad was) it didn't make any berries, so she was going to get someone to dig it out and replace it. I said "Let me prune it, and if it still doesn't do anything then I'll dig it out for you."

So I pruned it to about 3 inch stubs from the ground, and it grew back and started producing a small amount of scabby berries. Every year that passed there would be more berries and less scab. The year before she moved to a bungalow she had an absolute masse of berries. That bush was snided. We got five big freezer bags from it.

Then my grandma had to move, and the woman who moved in her place sprayed it with roundup. Which is very sad to me, because it's like the last piece of my Grandad's garden just killed because she didn't want her kid eating "poisonous berries." *Sigh*

But the moral is, your bush should be fine

[superfly78]

Thanks everyone! Sounds like the old adage "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is particularly apt for Gooseberries!

[BUFFS]

grow them hard,i grow mine in the borders and they get no fussing yet crop superbly each year,one i gave to a neighbour was cosseted but was very weak,given to her sister ,who dug a hole and bunged it in =great crop,i then gave her some cuttings and just shoved them into her soil,they all took,and she is now happy..