What to plant in December…

Gooseberries are a great fruit to plant bare-root at this time of year. They're easy to grow, and just a single bush will reward you with masses of berries for up to 15 years. They prefer a sunny position, but will also grow and fruit in shade and tolerate a more exposed position than most other soft fruit. However, they need a moist, but free-draining soil that doesn’t become waterlogged in winter.

Before planting, stand the bare-root plants in a bucket of water, leaving them to soak for about 20 minutes. This will reinvigorate the plants and help them to establish successfully. Gooseberries can be grown in large pots at least 30-38cm (12-15in) in diameter. Use a good quality soil-based potting compost, and water and feed them regularly throughout the growing season to ensure good results and a large crop.

However, if you have enough room, you can grow them in the ground. After 5-10 years, gooseberry bushes can obtain a height of 1.8m (6ft) and a spread of 1.5m (5ft), so you should space the plants around 1.5m apart. Ensure the soil isn’t frozen solid and plant your gooseberries at the same depth as they were originally growing in the nursery, so that the new soil level is at the old soil mark. Add organic matter as you fill in the planting hole and then water in well. Finally, add deep mulch of well rotted garden compost, bark or other bulky organic material to the surface to repel weeds and keep the soil moist.

Water the newly planted bushes during the first year if the weather is dry. In subsequent years, you may need to water them when the fruit is swelling, if the soil is not already moist.

For maximum crops, feed each year in March, and top up the mulch to retain soil moisture at the roots. Prune your gooseberry bush annually in late summer or autumn by cutting back new growth to two buds, and main shoots (leaders) by one-third. To prevent mildew, keep the centre of the bush open to give a goblet shape. Pruning new growth to 5 leaves in late summer will also encourage a bigger crop the following year.

Covering plants with netting will protect the fruit from birds and may also help prevent damage from gooseberry sawfly caterpillars.

Gooseberry plants fruit on older wood and on the base of young wood. Although they are usually grown as bushes, they can also be trained as single upright stems or ‘cordons’, as well as fans on walls or fences. This makes the fruit easier to pick from the thorny stems and is useful if space is tight.

Gooseberries are divided into cooking and dessert varieties, although most are dual purpose. The fruit is also available many different colours - green, red, orange, yellow, purple, white or black varieties

Most gooseberries are ready to pick in July or August, but to ensure good-sized berries, thin out the bunches of fruit in June when the fruits are the size of a pea, by removing alternate fruit and using them for cooking - they can be topped and tailed then cooked in pies or stewed to make deliciously tart purées, jams and chutneys. Leave the remaining fruit to fully ripen on the plant, they all taste sweeter this way, but don’t leave them until they become too soft. The fruit tastes delicious straight from the bush, and ideally, you should pick and eat the berries on the same day, but they will store in the fridge for up to two weeks and can also be frozen. You can expect a yield of about 5kg (11lb) from each gooseberry bush.

Varieties you may want to try are:

• ‘Careless’ – large fruits that turn transparent when ripe

• ‘Invicta’ – green cooker, big crops, mildew resistant

• ‘Leveller’ – yellow dessert variety with delicious flavour

• ‘Pax’ - sweet, red berries on almost spine-free stems

• ‘Whinham’s Industry’ - large, sweet, red dessert berries; shade-tolerant and cope with heavy soil

• ‘Whitesmith’ – a dessert/cooker with white fruits