Moving Gooseberry & Red Currant bushes - advice please

[Super Sprout]

Hi,

One of my allotment neighbours has very kindly offered me a gooseberry bush & redcurrant bush that are surplus to requirements.

When would be the best time to move them? Is it too late for me to move them this year for them to produce fruit this season? Should I have done it last autumn for example?

In addition, what is the best preparation for the area of ground that will home these fruit bushes. I was going to dig an area, remove all weeds, and dig in some well rotted manure.

Many thanks,
Paul

[veggiechicken]

Now's a good time, before they start leafing up.

[nickdub]

Move 'em now, but dig up a LARGE chunk of soil with the roots - if its so heavy you have to get a wheelbarrow in order to shift it, so much the better.

PS Don't forget to dig the hole you will be planting in to first, before starting on the bush you are moving. Break up the soil at the bottom of the hole with a fork.

[Super Sprout]

Thank you for the responses.

[Mark_Riga]

While you are at it, now would be a good time, while the pants are dormant, to take some cuttings off them should you want more or as replacements in a couple of years time. Select nice looking shoots about 9 to 12in long cutting just below a bud, half bury them in the ground and water in. By the end of summer, these should be rooted and can be moved. Black currants are very easy as well if a couple of twigs were going spare on a nearby plot.

[bario1]

Whose pants are dormant? Not mine!

[BUFFS]

Whose pants are dormant? Not mine!

Does that mean you have a pocket microclimate?

[WalterWhite]

As veggiechicken said, get them in now.

Blending composted bark, leaf-mould with the surrounding soil would benefit the plant plus a good handful of mycorrhizal fungi.