Currants

To plant gooseberries in the ground, choose a sunny or semi-shady spot with well-drained soil. Dig a hole wide and deep enough to accommodate the plant's roots. If you're planting several gooseberry bushes, make sure you maintain a distance of around 1.50 metres between each plant.

We recommend planting redcurrants in autumn, from September to November, or in spring, between March and April. Before planting, soak the plant's roots in water for a few hours to rehydrate them. Bury the plant in the hole, making sure that the grafting point is a few centimetres above ground level. Fill in the hole, packing the soil lightly around the plant.

Water abundantly after planting, then regularly thereafter, especially in dry periods. Gooseberry bushes don't need fertiliser, but you can enrich the soil with compost or organic mulch to encourage the plant's growth. By following these simple tips, your currant bushes should grow well and provide you with delicious fruit.

For redcurrants, pruning should be done during the dormant season, ideally in winter, from November to March, frost-free. Dead wood, weak or misaligned branches are removed, and the centre is thinned out to allow air and light to circulate. We also remove 1/3 of the oldest branches to encourage the growth of young shoots, which will bear the most fruit. The aim is to keep the plant airy, around 1.2 to 1.5 m tall and wide, vigorous and productive.

Gooseberries are generally harvested in early summer, between June and July. To harvest the fruit, it is best to wait until they are fully ripe and pick them gently by hand. Be careful of the thorns on the branches. Gooseberries keep very well in the fridge for about a week. If you want to keep them for longer, you can freeze them for later use in jam, jelly or pastry recipes. Remember to wash them well and remove the stems before freezing. To grow gooseberries naturally, we recommend mulching the soil around the bushes to keep them moist and limit weed growth. Gooseberries can also be pruned after harvest to encourage their development and fruiting for the following year.