On Sun, 8 May 2011 19:38:58 +0100, Roger Tonkin
wrote:

In article ,
says...

I planted a small gooseberry bush last year and this year it appears to have
some gooseberries on it. Not many, but a few. How do I know when I can pick
them? That is, when they are ripe? They are green and not hairy and don't
look like they will change colour or ánything.

Also, my sister gave me a rhubarb and it has quite a lot of leaves with long
stems on it, some of which now seem to have got old and died. Again, how do
I know when I should harvest the rhubarbs? When they have just grown and are
red, or leave them to go green, or what? Does it matter? I'm wondering if
the taste changes as the stalks age and there is some optimal moment for
harvesting, if you see what I mean.

TIA

Ian

I usually start picking gooseberries at the end of May, but it depends
on variety. You can always try the taste test, pick one and bite it, if
you can eat it, its ready to be picked! Otherwise I would wait until you
can gently squeeze the fruit and feel it give a little.

You should not harvest rhubarb for the first year, to allow it to settle
and develop its root system. After that pick a few stems by pulling
outwards and upwards, when they are reasonable size. The earlier
rhuibarb is always much nicer than later in the season, so pick little
and often. Many people say not to pick after the end of July, because
toxins build up in the stems, I tend to stop by mid-August, depending on
how much I've got preserved!

The quality of young rhubarb stalks is certainly much better than that
of the older ones; but I understand that the harmful oxalic acid is
mostly in the leaves rather than the stalks, even when they're turning
green.

Don't worry about the older leaves dying off, Ian: that's normal.

--
Mike.