It’s an early morning activity. Pick a day when there is little dew on the ground, get the bin ready along with a long sleeved shirt and think leather gloves and its time to pick.
Gooseberries have thorns and even with gloves and long sleeves I still get scratched up picking them. The variety we have known as pixwell is said to be ‘mostly thorn less’. I am not sure who decided that but they certainly didn’t try picking the little green globes. Seem to be a lot of thorns to me. Fortunately this variety has the fruit hanging on the underside of the branches so its easier to pick than some varieties. Gooseberries can be prolific if nurtured and given the right environment. Four hours of picking gives me 30lbs of fruit and a lot of scratches. Keeping a medicinal wipe handy is always a good idea
Still its better to pick than many other fruits and its worth it. First off I get to be outside in the early morning listening to the sounds of nature. There is a family of blue jays cackling in the background and the little ones scream at their parents for food. The catbirds are squawking and they are all eating my raspberries which I did not get chance to net this spring. No matter I will get a fall crop. Its peaceful and even with the thorns I enjoy picking gooseberries. I am hooked on this tart little green to pink fruit.
We will have fresh gooseberries for sale in a couple of days time. Don’t know much about gooseberries? We are declaring July as gooseberry month and will be offering fun facts and information about gooseberries all month long.
