Basically, all work on planting plants in vegetable gardens and summer cottages occurs at the beginning of spring. The gooseberry was no exception. Planting in the spring requires attention and quickness. Bushes can be planted only after the soil has thawed, but strictly before the buds swell. This rule cannot be ignored. It is from this main criterion that one must proceed if it is planned to cultivate gooseberries. Planting in the spring, at exactly the right time, guarantees the survival of the bush.
Gooseberries
Gooseberry belongs to the group of perennial shrubs. It can reach a height of one and a half meters. Begins to bear fruit in the second year. The maximum yield occurs in the fourth year, and fruiting itself lasts more than 15 years.
A powerful root system goes deep into the earth up to 60 cm. It begins to bloom from mid-late April or early May, depending on whichbush planted in the climatic zone. Fruiting begins in July. Berries ripen unevenly. They can have different colors: green, yellow, purple, burgundy. The shape of the fruit can also be different: spherical, cylindrical, ovoid, pear-shaped, round.
Here are a few varieties that are very popular with gardeners in central Russia:
· Russian. A tall early ripe variety, the berries are not large - 4 grams, taste sweet and sour, the color is dark red, the yield reaches 6 kg per bush.
· Malachite. Tall, mid-season, berries weighing up to 6 grams, green, have a sweet taste, yield up to 7 kg.
· Date. High late variety. The berries are large, the weight of one fruit is up to 20 grams, an unusual purple hue. The taste is sweet and sour, the yield is up to 12 kg.
Choosing a seat
Planting gooseberries in spring and autumn requires equally careful selection of a place for a bush. Given the long fruiting period (some varieties can produce up to 20 years), the right location guarantees a high yield of fruit and will not require transplanting to another part of the garden for any reason.
It is good to plant gooseberries along the fence or the border of the site in such a way that it is no closer than 2 meters to the buildings. The same distance is maintained for neighboring trees or shrubs. Gooseberries are not planted in the area where raspberries or currants grew before (they greatly deplete the soil).
The plant loves light, heat and lack of wind. The soil is desirable loamy, wetlands, sandy or acidic soil are categorically not suitable. Ground water - at the level of 1.5 meters to the surface of the earth. Excessive moisture can lead to rotting of the root neck of the bush.
Planting gooseberries in the spring requires the preparation of the site itself. It is freed from the rhizomes of old plants and weeds, dug up to a depth of 30 cm and leveled. Be sure to fertilize the soil. Fertilizer can be manure, potash and phosphate fertilizers.
Planting gooseberries in the spring can be greatly simplified if preparatory work was carried out in the fall: the land was cleaned and cultivated, holes were dug for planting bushes.
Spring planting
One day before planting, the roots of seedlings are soaked in a special antibacterial solution or in a solution with fertilizers. The seedlings themselves, after a thorough examination, are freed from dry and weak shoots, damaged roots. Planting gooseberries in the spring includes several stages:
preparation of land on site;
· digging holes with a depth of 50 cm on light soils, up to 70 cm on heavy soils, diameter - 0.5 meters;
planting seedlings;
fertilization and tamping (it is better to make a mixture: for one bucket of humus 300 grams of wood ash and 200 grams of superphosphate);
backfilling the pit with earth (well compacted);
· Abundant watering of the plant.
Shortening the shoots by five centimeters will provide good branching. It is advisable to leave about five buds on each shoot. Experienced gardeners recommend planting different gooseberries. Planting in the spring should take place on a calm, windless overcast day.
Depending on the gooseberry variety, there are two ways to plant:
Vertical planting is suitable for varieties that produce a large number of basal shoots;
· at an angle to the ground of 450, which leads to the development of lateral roots and shoots and significantly increases the base of the bush.
The procedure is not difficult at all, any novice amateur gardener can handle it.
Care
Requires some care for gooseberries in the spring. Planting provides an initial dose of top dressing, but this is not enough. During the appearance of leaves, plants use nitrophoska and urea for fertilizer.
The second spring top dressing is carried out at the very beginning of flowering bush. Organic fertilizers, calcium phosphate are well suited. The third time the bushes are fertilized at the time of setting the first berries.
There are subtleties in watering gooseberries: you can not water with cold water using the rain method. In dry weather, the plant is especially demanding for timely and regular watering.
During the spring-summer period, weeding to a depth of 10 cm is required.
Processing
Gooseberry is suffering from attack by diseases and pests. The first sign of powdery mildew is gray spots on the leaves and shoots. The easiest and most effective way to deal with this scourge is a solution of baking soda (five grams per liter of water). Helps well and solutioniron sulfate (three grams per liter of water).
To protect against pests moths, sawflies, aphids use a special preparation - "Karyuofos". You can use the ash solution. To prepare it, you need to dilute one kilogram of wood ash in three liters of water. Processing is carried out in the spring, if necessary, repeat.
Harvesting
The main harvest falls on the summer months. Berries can be harvested from mid-July to mid-August. A significant advantage of gooseberries is the fact that the berries, even when they reach full maturity, do not crumble.
The yield of a bush depends on the age of the plant, variety and weather conditions. Modern breeding varieties are aimed at increasing yields and resistance to adverse conditions.
When untimely planting in frozen ground or after swelling of the kidneys, you can lose gooseberries. Planting in the spring is very strictly tied to these requirements. It is easier to plant a plant in autumn. A month and a half before the onset of frost, the planted gooseberries will have time to take root in a new place and even grow young roots.
