Gooseberries: planting in spring and autumn, care

Basically, all work on planting plants in the kitchen gardens and suburban areas falls at the beginning of spring. Did not become an exception and gooseberries. Planting in the spring requires attention and agility. Plant shrubs can only after thawing the soil, but strictly to the swelling of the kidneys. This rule can not be neglected. It is from this basic criterion and it is necessary to proceed if it is planned to cultivate gooseberry. Planting in spring, at precisely selected time, guarantees the survival of the bush.

Gooseberry

Gooseberries belong to the group of perennial shrubs. Can reach a height of one and a half meters. Begins to bear fruit for the second year. The maximum yield is in the fourth year, and the fruiting itself lasts more than 15 years.

A powerful root system extends to the depth of the earth to 60 cm. The blossom begins from the middle-end of April or the beginning of May, depending on the climatic zone in which the bush is planted. 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, ovate, pear-shaped, rounded.

Here are a few varieties that are very popular among gardeners in the central part of Russia:

· Russian. Tall early-ripening variety, the berries are not large - 4 grams, the taste is sweet and sour, the color is dark red, the yield reaches 6 kg from the bush.

· Malachite. Tall, medium-sized, berries weighing up to 6 grams, green, have a sweet taste, yields up to 7 kg.

· Date fruit. High late-ripening variety. Berries are large, the weight of one fruit is up to 20 grams, an unusual purple hue. The taste is sweet and sour, yield - up to 12 kg.

Choose a place

Planting gooseberries in spring and autumn requires an equally careful selection of the site for the bush. Given the long fruiting period (some varieties can please the crop for almost 20 years), the correctly chosen location guarantees a high yield of fruit and does not require a transplant to another part of the garden for any reason.

It is good to plant gooseberries along the fence or the border of the plot so that the buildings are not closer than 2 meters. The same distance is maintained for neighboring trees or shrubs. Do not plant gooseberry on a site where before it grew raspberries or currants (they strongly deplete the soil).

The plant loves light, warmth and lack of wind. Soil is desirable loamy, categorically not suitable wetlands, sand or acid soil. Groundwater - at a level of 1.5 meters to the surface of the earth. Excessive humidity can lead to rotting of the root neck of the bush.

Planting gooseberries in spring requires the preparation of the site itself. It is released from the rhizomes of old plants and weeds, dug to a depth of 30 cm and leveled. Mandatory soil is fertilized. Dung, potash and phosphate fertilizing can serve as fertilizer.

Planting gooseberries in the spring can be greatly simplified if in the autumn preparatory work was done: the earth was cleaned and processed, the pits were dug under the bushes planting.

Planting in the spring

The day before planting, the roots of the seedlings are soaked in a special antibacterial solution or in solution with fertilizers. The seedlings themselves after a thorough examination are released from dry and weak shoots, damaged roots. Planting gooseberries in the spring includes several stages:

· Preparation of land on the site;

· Digging holes deep in light soils 50 cm, heavy - up to 70 cm, diameter - 0,5 meters;

· Planting seedlings;

· Application of fertilizer and its ramming (it is better to make a mixture: one bucket of humus 300 grams of wood ash and 200 grams of superphosphate);

· Backfilling with pit earth (well tamper);

· Abundant watering of the plant.

Shortening the shoots of centimeters by five will provide good branching. It is advisable to leave about five kidneys on each shoot. Experienced gardeners recommend planting different gooseberries. Planting in the spring should pass in a calm, windless, cloudy day.

Depending on the type of gooseberries, there are two ways of landing:

· Vertical planting is suitable for varieties that form a large number of basal shoots;

· At an angle to the ground at 45 ⁰ , which leads to the development of lateral roots and shoots and significantly increases the base of the bush.

The procedure is not at all complicated, any novice amateur horticulturist will cope with it.

Care

Some care for gooseberry in spring is required. Planting provides the initial dose of top dressing, but this is not enough. During the emergence of leaves for fertilizing plants, nitrofosses and urea are used.

The second spring top dressing is carried out at the very beginning of flowering of the bush. Good fit organic fertilizers, calcium phosphate. For the third time the bushes are fertilized at the moment of tying the first berries.

Its subtleties are in the watering of gooseberries: you can not water it with cold water by the rain method. In droughty weather, the plant is particularly demanding for timely and regular watering.

During the spring-summer period, weeding is required to a depth of 10 cm.

Treatment

Gooseberries suffer from attacks of diseases and pests. The first sign of powdery mildew are gray spots on leaves and shoots. The most simple and effective way to combat this scourge is a solution of baking soda (five grams - per liter of water). Well helps and a solution of ferrous sulfate (three grams - per liter of water).

To protect against pests of fire, sawfly, aphids use a special drug - "Carufos". You can use an ash solution. To make it, you need to dilute one kilogram of wood ash in three liters of water. The treatment 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. An essential advantage of gooseberries is the fact that berries, even reaching full maturity, do not crumble.

Yield of the bush depends on the age of the plant, variety and weather conditions. Modern selection varieties are aimed at increasing yield and resistance to unfavorable conditions.

If the plant fails to arrive in time to the frozen earth or after swelling of the kidneys, you can lose gooseberries. Planting in the spring is very strictly tied to these requirements. In autumn it is easier to plant a plant. For a month and a half before the onset of frost, the planted gooseberries will have time to settle down in a new place and even grow young roots.