"Jaques d'Alltrades" wrote in message
k...
The message
from "Brian" --- 'flayb' to respond contains these
words:

I know/knew this was/is not the approved method but with a
large,
practically weed free, walled garden, only the blackcurrants were home
to
brambles, twitch and nettles. No way to clear them.
As a trial, I planted a row of disbudded cuttings with a 12" leg
to
the top buds [terminal bud removed]. They all took, and each plant gave
a
1/3 reduced crop BUT three times as many plants in the row~~and not a
weed
between them!
I have replaced the row at about ten year intervals as the legs
gets a
little elderly and woody.
The currants are much easier to pick, at waist height, and usually
combined with pruning to the aerial cluster and taking those laden
branches
to a 'stripper' sitting in a comfortable chair at the end of the row!
Those
she doesn't eat [I can't stand them raw] go straight into the freezer
with a
good shake-up after a few days. A few green in with the blacks are of no
consequence.
October is the best month to start. I would use no other method.
Well
worth a try.

Standard gooseberries are fun, too. I don't know if the commercially
grown ones are grafted on to any special stock, but I doubt it.

--
Rusty
horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/
~~~~~~~~~~
The blackcurrants were not grown as cordons [and cannot be grown as
cordons]~just with a leg. Gooseberries should be grown with a clear leg.
My cordon gooseberries were quite unbelievable and featured in a gardening
magazine. I don't know how to make a picture available~~~ other than sending
to an individual..
Gooseberries are never grafted as they strike so well from cuttings.
Best Wishes Brian.