Although some varieties of gooseberries change color, others look just the same when they're ripe as they did a month previously when they were hard and sour.  So, how do you know when to pick them?

Your best bet is to nibble on a berry every week or two between June and August, waiting until the fruits start to taste sweet.  A ripe berry will also give a little when you squeeze it, but will not burst open (unless you've waited too long and it's overripe.)

Once you figure out when your variety ripens up, you can mark that date on your calendar and know henceforth to look for your Invicta gooseberries on June 30 (in our specific example.)  Enjoy!

Want more in-depth information? Browse through our books.

Or explore more posts by date or by subject.

About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.

Powered by Branchable Wiki Hosting.