Hey everyone this is Ross in today's video I want to talk to you guys about gooseberries and What is a gooseberry? Well? It's these little guys right here. I Compare them very similarly to grapes. They have a really smooth crunchy exterior Kind of like a grape and then when you get in there, it's also smooth on the inside really elegant piece of fruit just like the grape and these guys are a bit hard though also sweet Really good for fresh eating and in my opinion They're like an early grape and also extremely easy to grow There's it's just a very low maintenance tree low maintenance bush guys that anybody can grow at home They don't really take up a whole lot of space. You know you're looking at maybe five foot by five foot or even six foot by six foot depending on the variety You know they're very easy to propagate It's really as simple as just bending this cane Down to the ground and it roots itself in the ground and you can then cut it over here Once this area forms roots and you got yourself a new plant so they're very easy to grow Nothing really bothers them except for the birds So you can see I have a net on them This particular bush is done fruiting right now, but there is a one in the front of the house in a different location that's Didn't get as much of a head start and I think that's probably why there's less heat in that location and That one's loaded still with fruit that hasn't really ripe in just yet The one in the front is called Trixia and the one right here is called Hino Machi red and they turn red Almost a deep dark red But I like to pick them a bit earlier and there's a big debate with that a lot of people in Europe love these things Because they grow so easily and they're very common over there But the big debate is really when to pick them pick them later or pick them earlier if you pick them later in My experience they seem to get more of a softer interior more of a grainy pear like interior That is not as pleasant to the mouth and they also lose some of that tartness Whereas if you pick them now when they're a bit green, but they're getting red And they're also a bit soft You know, they're more of a smooth grape on the in the in the interior so for me I like them more like this And they're really good. I mean they even taste like Kiwi. I think Kiwi is a really good actual Guess a really good comparison See that one was a bit more ripe and the interior was a bit kind of like a Like a piece of citrus You know, it wasn't really firm like a grape is but not necessarily on the way to a pear Now they're really good and For me they're actually better than blueberries and better than cherries Maybe even better than raspberries. I'm not entirely sure on that comparison, but You can see my grape vines here and these are also table grapes, but they're European grapes We've talked a lot about these grapes You can see they got nice little clusters on them It's gonna be a big year for grapes. They look very healthy This vine is doing very well for it's I think fourth year now So this is awesome, but the point is is that if you really love grapes Get yourself the gooseberry because today it's not even July and I'm eating gooseberries Whereas I'm gonna have to wait Until probably August to eat these grapes As big as they are and as full as they look I'm probably gonna have to wait quite a bit So that fills a nice little gap in the season You know it's to get yourself an earlier grape Get yourself a gooseberry. They're always reliable. There is no disease that bothers them here But they do get affected by mildew If you guys live in a really high mildew environment, it's in your area. You get lots of humidity You got to watch out for that, but also you can get Disease-resistant varieties of gooseberry, but what you're looking at right now Is actually a muskidine grape and this is a different type of grape that I find to be similar Actually more similar probably to the gooseberry In that they are also a grape a different type of grape that's found native to the southern United States and They don't really have disease issues even though this one is showing very light disease problems It's probably because the vine is a bit young, but this is a grape that Fruits in the fall so you've got yourself the gooseberry first Sometime in late June to July then you've got the European table grape In August and you can have different Varieties fruit at different times and then you've got followed up by that is the The grape that Right into the fall the muskidine grape So for me, I think it's a no-brainer. I really do these are like one of the best things you can grow in a back Yard environment you can't really get them in the store here in the United States It just doesn't make sense. I think not to not to grow them You know, it's one of those things that just so easy Fruit so heavily that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense and I'm gonna bring you guys over now To the gooseberry that is fruiting like crazy so to show you guys the production because We're already done on the other one and by the way Look at these blueberries man These blueberries are massive and you can see the bird got to that one very rare though It seems like so far this year the birds are getting to any of them some of these by the way are like the size of my thumb Which is insane Here's one right here. I can pick But anyway back to this video here's another gooseberry right here Right next to the blueberry. I mean there's no spacing at all with this Really close together You can see underneath these Canes here is just tons of fruit Look at that guys This is a very young bush This bush has only been here for two years I think and it just grew really well last year And of course, it's growing well really nicely this year you can see the nice shape of it I'd say it's about Maybe four-foot wide right now by Three-feet tall so that's pretty impressive. Maybe it I think this might be its third year This variety again is called trixia and there's no thorns On the new growth which is really nice to see Easy to deal with but on the old wood There is some thorns so not not the biggest issue to really get to worry about but what's nice about this one is the production the color the flavor And that's kind of what I wanted to get at here is to show you guys that's You know what the production looks like so Anyway guys that is sort of the video on the gooseberry and what I kind of wanted to cover with you all You know, there's not really else much to it Other than just getting them established they take a bit long to get established the same thing with a lot of the rives, you know You know the currents the Joe's the berry Also the honey berry and you know other kinds of smaller bushes they take a bit longer I think To get established but if you got soil that's really well mulched Lots of organic material that holds a lot of water Um and you water them well if if you need it to you know, they're gonna take off. They're gonna do really well You know put some comfort or some kind of nitrogen fixer near them I think they really like that But certainly I think it's the moisture level in the soil these bushes and lower growing plants Are meant to be grown in the understory they don't they don't mind being grown in in In more shadier conditions And they like the wet soil that you normally find Underneath the forest, you know, you're gonna find a cooler environment a wetter soil down there And they're not gonna have that crazy sun blasting on them really transfer Transparencing those leaves right Um, so anyway guys, I want to thank you all for watching this one on Gooseberries. I mean that's that's it in a nutshell really Again, there's no reason not to grow them I think If you guys live in a colder zone you can still grow them I think if even if you live in a warmer place you can still grow them. So Check them out All right guys take care. We'll see you for tomorrow's video Have a good day everybody