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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Gooseberries for TN?

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Gooseberries for TN?
  • Date: Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:28:16 -0500


They are WAY to big to net, whereas it appears that most of the gooseberries
are small enough there is some possibility of keeping the birds off them.


For what it's worth, birds haven't bothered my gooseberries* (they do go after the currants, though - and pretty much everything else I grow). Certainly, if you have cherries ripening at the same time, I wouldn't think they'd even notice the gooseberries (although using sweet cherries to decoy birds away from gooseberries seems a little odd to me - heh, heh).

And yes, the gooseberries are earlier than most of my fruit - especially if I pick them green for pie. I don't make pie, but I can usually talk my Mom into doing it for me. Note that we tried ripe - or mostly ripe - gooseberries in pie this summer, too. They were great. I don't know if I like green or ripe gooseberries better in pie, since they're both good, and I didn't eat them side by side. But the color of ripe gooseberry pie was very nice.

But I planted gooseberries for fresh eating, and they've been a bit disappointing for that. But I can eat them in oatmeal for breakfast. And I did discover that combining them with blueberries was wonderful (either in oatmeal, or just in a bowl with milk and sugar), so maybe I'll have to start growing them, too. :-)

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

*PS. When I was researching this stuff, I read that birds will eat the buds from gooseberries, very early in the spring when they're still dormant. I don't remember where I read that, but they recommended waiting to prune gooseberries until after the leaves had started to open, just for that reason. I haven't worried about it, because I haven't noticed birds on my gooseberries at any time of the year, but maybe they just haven't figured this out yet.

--
From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step. - Denis Diderot




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