These sharp yet sweet berries add summery floral tones to an array of dishes and are in fact a great berry to grow in the garden. Productive Garden Supervisor of The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Katie Kingett, explains…
“Ribes uva-crispa may be a prickly customer, but it’s well worth growing the humble gooseberry as a welcome addition to your garden or allotment. Self-fertile and hardy, gooseberries prefer a sheltered position, in full sun and well-drained soil. Gooseberries can be trained in a variety of ways dependent on the space available, meaning it can be tailored to fit gardens of varying size and design. Berries are available in a range of vibrant colours, including red, yellow, green and white. They look attractive and provide a flavoursome bounty in the Summer months, versatile for both sweet and savoury dishes. Early gooseberries and elderflower make a fine marriage of flavours, combining home grown delights with hedgerow pickings.
Once beloved by the Victorians who grew them on a commercial basis, it now proves difficult to source gooseberries from supermarkets. With only a handful of cultivars grown in gardens today, at Heligan we currently have a fan trained gooseberry in the Melon Yard and have created a new soft fruit bed in the Flower Garden, which includes Early Sulphur, Lancashire Lad and London varieties trained as clear stem bushes. We hope to add cordons over the coming year to further extend the cultivars grown and to continue the legacy of growers such as Joseph Greenhalgh, developer of the Leveller gooseberry back in 1851.
With so many reasons to champion growing gooseberries, I wholeheartedly encourage you to grow this sublime soft fruit to enrich your own summer banquets.”