Gooseberry Gone

[ronnie]

I know the feeling, wasn't the birds which depleted my gosgogs but CATERPILLARS. they stripped the bushes of leaves, hence no mature fruits. This is something new for my garden!

[HotStuff]

I am fit to burst at the moment. I planted a couple of blackcurrant bushes in the garden last Autumn. They were the runts of the litter from a Wilkos sale, so didn't cost very much. I've never grown blackcurrants before, they were just bare sticks and I thought they were probably dead. So imagine how happy I was when I started to see new growth this spring. No sign of fruit, but I thought, well maybe they take their time and hopefully I'll get a crop next year. This morning while doing my morning tour of the garden I spotted a single solitary blackcurrant on one of them. I was so happy I went & grabbed my camera and took a pic (yeah, I'm very sad). So imagine how I feel when I went out a few minutes ago and found it had GONE. Have thrown some netting over them for now until I can rig up a more permanent structure. Now wondering how many more have gone missing

Sorry for the rant, but I'm just SO annoyed.

[valmarg]

Hence the parable of the soft fruit grower - if you don't net you don't get (any).
valmarg

[BilboWaggins]

Someone on our plot had all their gooseberries go overnight. It was someone with gardening gloves though! And they had to pass to allotments with gooseberries to get to theirs. One could feel it was personal!

(Mine are in the garden at home.)

Ooh, that's nasty. Something on the news this week about allotment thefts on the increase, not just tools but produce. It's pretty scary to think you could spend half the year nurturing something and in one night some flippin' tea-leaf comes in and takes the lot.

[rob the roller]

Two-legged pests are difficult to deter.

About 6 weeks ago I finished constructing a fruit cage from timber and chicken mesh. It seems to keep out the birds, squirrels and other rodents. A bit pricey, it worked out about as much as the air rifle I bought 7 or 8 years ago, which is also effective but only when manually operated. The fruit cage seems to work happily around the clock without a human attendant. I just wish I had done it years ago. It's only when you see the branches bent down to the ground with the weight of the fruit that you realise what you are missing.

[gojiberry]

Other than strawberries I haven't netted anything and I still seem to be getting a good crop from everything. I know the blackbirds have had a few raspberries but I have had so many I don't know what to do with them. Have had loads of blueberries. The gooseberries gave me about 4lb from 3 bushes and it is their first year so I was happy.

Ian