Last edited on October 16, 2026. View history
Gooseberry
Gooseberry
How to sow gooseberry: Cuttings
Sun requirement for gooseberry: Plant in Full Sun
Gooseberries are a perennial shrub in the Ribes genus. They are closely related to the currant and native to Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. Gooseberries have a central trunk surrounded by branches covered in sharp spines and lobed leaves. The bell-shaped flowers produce sour-sweet, semi-translucent berries that can be green, red, yellow, or white. The plants can be grown as shrubs or trained to grow upright against a wall or support as "Cordons". Dimensions given below are for the shrub. Gooseberries should be pruned in late winter before new growth appears to increase yields, reduce susceptibility to disease, and make harvesting easier. Gooseberries are propagated through cuttings or young plants. They are self-fertile and will produce fruit in their third year and live for 12-15 years. Some varieties ripen to red, while others remain green. Berries will be slightly soft when ripe. Netting the bushes will prevent birds from eating all the ripe fruit. Harvesting is a bit of an adventure due to the spines on the branches. Under-ripe, green fruit can be baked into pies. Ripe gooseberries can be eaten raw or made into wine or jam.
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Gooseberry facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
150cm × 150cmRow Spacing
150cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For gooseberry, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 3°C and a shortest growing cycle of 150 days at its best temperature, about 2550 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your gooseberry will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
How members grow gooseberries
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Where gooseberries grow
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What people are saying about gooseberries
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Who's planted gooseberries
- jinty Back garden · Oxford, uk
- shiny Front berries garden · Wellington, NZ
- bigblen Orchard · Rapaki Road,...
- miestasmagnus Garden · London, UK
- skyler Summer Garden · Portland, OR, USA
Gooseberry harvests
Nobody has harvested this crop yet.
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 150 to 180 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Ribes uva-crispa L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Rosales Grossulariaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -28 °C |
| Life form | shrub |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about gooseberries
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