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It is rare to find a garden plot or a fruit-berry plantation without a gooseberry growing on them. It is also called the "northern grapes" for a pleasant delicate taste and for the possibility of growing in rather severe weather conditions.
Round or oval gooseberry fruits contain sugars, vitamins and acids, so its berries must be entered into the diet of the whole family, especially since a variety of varieties will allow you to easily choose 2-3 bushes for planting.
Selection of early, late and medium ripening varieties will allow to feast on fresh berries for a month, and canned or frozen fruits will replenish the supply of vitamins and uplift the winter season. Compotes, kissel, marmalade, jam and wine are made from sweet and sour berries.
Conditions for planting gooseberries
Gooseberries do not bring a lot of difficulties when planting and growing, but compliance with some conditions and requirements must be followed in order to obtain and maintain a good harvest.
This crop is self-fertile, it is not necessary for it to have shrubs or pollinator varieties. But if you wish, you can plant beside or prickly bushes with yellow, red, dark purple sweet or sweet-sour berries nearby. You can give preference to bushes not sprawling, and standard forms.
When choosing a place to plant, take into account the love of light and the long life of the gooseberry - abundant fruiting up to 15 years and gradually reducing yields, sometimes up to 40 years of life.
Therefore, planting gooseberries should be conducted where you do not plan any buildings in the coming years, so that the bushes grow in a sunny area without shading.
Gooseberry soil can be practically any: clay and sandy, loamy and sandy. The only thing he does not like is swampiness and acid soils.
Any land can be adjusted to the requirements of the gooseberry. So, in the sandy and sandy sand it is necessary to introduce organic matter every year, and clay is often loosened so that the air they need comes to the roots. Ideally even fruiting and gooseberry growth is observed when plants are planted in light, dry areas. Weeds around bushes should be regularly destroyed.
In order to start harvesting a bountiful harvest of sweet, fragrant berries in a few years, you need to correctly determine the place where to plant the gooseberries. Highlight a sunny, flat, protected from wind area under its landing. Groundwater should lie no higher than 1 m from the surface of the earth, because the roots of the gooseberry grow to a depth of 50-70 cm;otherwise they may rot, the plant will start to ache.
Features of planting gooseberries in the suburbs are no different from planting in the Volga region or Siberia. Here are just varieties you need to choose zoned, suitable for growing it in this region.
For example, English Yellow and Warsaw varieties are suitable for the Moscow region, and African, Grace, Kolobok - for the Volga region.
Rules for planting gooseberries
Following the rules of planting gooseberries at a permanent place on the site, as well as other perennial plants, you first need to decide when it is better to do it. Usually the plants are planted or in early spring, before bud break, or in autumn after the end of the growing season. The exceptions are seedlings with a closed root system, the timing of their planting can be shifted, but not by much, and not by the hottest and driest time.
Gooseberries are preferably planted in the autumn period from mid-September to early October. When the gooseberry is planted in the fall, it will have time to take root well before the onset of frost, go into the winter, and begin to grow successfully in the spring with good roots.
The survival rate of seedlings during spring planting is somewhat worse.
How to plant a gooseberry in the fall?
So, you purchased a sapling in a nursery or with a hand, and it is possible that you yourself grew it.
Follow these tips when planting a gooseberry so that the plant will not disappoint you in the future:
- Prepare space for future plantings at a distance of approximately 1.5 x 1.5 m, taking into account the dimensional characteristics of the bush of a particular variety. Dig and clear the area around them from weeds, it is best to start doing this for at least a couple of weeks before planting, in order to remove the grass for sure, preferably with roots.
- Dig pits measuring 40 * 50 * 50 cm. If you have quite a lot of organic fertilizers - humus, manure, compost - then add them not only to the pits, but also scatter around them at the rate of 3-4 kg / 1 square meter. But if the amount of organic matter is limited, then pour it only under the bushes themselves, in the pits, mixed with fertilizers - superphosphate and potassium chloride, as well as ash and dolomite flour. Since you decided to plant gooseberries in the fall, you do not need to make urea and other nitrogen fertilizers at this time of year! They only come in handy next spring.
- Inspect saplings, remove broken twigs, cut off damaged roots. Roots the seedlings gently in the hole in the depth and to the side, deepening it by 4-6 cm from the previous height of planting. Cover the roots with soil and lightly pat the roots to seal it around the roots. Under each bush, pour at least a bucket of water and grumble with humus or peat.
- Cut off the shoots of the newly planted plant to small penechki with 3-5 growth buds. Of these, the first main branches will begin to grow in spring.
Aftercare for gooseberry bushes will be simple. As the seedling grows, he will need props, not allowing long shoots to lie on the ground.
Watering is carried out as needed: it is impossible to fill in the bush, but in hot, dry times, especially during the berry pouring season, it is necessary to water it.
Loosening is carried out periodically, especially after heavy rains, to avoid the formation of a crust on the ground under a bush. During loosening, do not forget to remove all the weeds, if possible with roots.
Digging is permissible only to a depth of no more than 5-8 cm, since the roots of the gooseberry are close to the ground.
Fertilizing plants can be in the period of formation of ovaries and berries filling with liquid organic matter, and also in the spring - with nitrogen, in the autumn - with potash fertilizers.
Annually conduct thinning, and as necessary - sanitary pruning of the shoots, leaving 8-10 strong healthy branches of different ages on the bush.
