Take gooseberry cuttings

Fruit bushes for free!

Now’s the time to busy yourself in the greenhouse, making more of lots of deciduous fruit, such as gooseberries, veg and ornamentals by taking hardwood cuttings. Such an easy job isn’t a chore and keeps your gardening activity ticking over – all the while being a useful way of giving you lots of plants for free! Make sure you take cuttings of a few stems of the plant and pot up between three to five, ensuring at least some will take. Just taking one stem is risky. You can place each one in a single pot, or three to five per pot, as long as you have a few.

Plant gooseberry cuttings straight out into a trench in the garden, then check for rooting and new growth before leaving them for transplanting in autumn next year. However, you may not have room! In that case, it’s perfectly fine to pot up your cuttings, so you can easily keep an eye on them and tuck them away in a corner before you decide where to plant them up.

Make sure your cuttings are in a well-draining, gritty compost, well-watered when dry and left in a sheltered spot outdoors or in a cool greenhouse; don’t give them heat because they don’t need it.

Come ome autumn next year at least, they’ll be ready for planting on.

Step by step 1

Select good-quality, healthy shoots and cut into 10-15cm (4-6in) lengths, with a slope to shed water at the top end.

2

Dip the bo om flat-cut end in rooting powder, which helps rooting and prevents rot and fungal infection.

3

Place three to five lengths of stem per pot of multi-purpose compost, placing in a sheltered spot outside.

4

Water your potential new plants well – even winters can be too dry and windy for container plants.