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Ian B[_3_] · 09-05-2011, 02:18 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

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

In article ,
lid 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.

Thanks Mike!

Ian