Old Grumpy's Guide to Gooseberry Gathering
 

1. It is always worth going after that last tiny scrawny berry because
you'll discover yet another 10 luscious berries each the size of bull's
********.

2. In spite of the thorn hazard, you must hug the bush. That is to say, one
by one, bring each branch in turn into your arms. Then you can be sure that
you have garnered every last berry.

3. Do not harvest by bending over. That is the recipe for back-ache. Get
yourself a
little stool and sit right down beside the bush. This also assists with (2)
above.

Old Grumpy's Guide to Gooseberry Gathering
 

The Weary Gardener wrote:
1. It is always worth going after that last tiny scrawny berry because
you'll discover yet another 10 luscious berries each the size of bull's
********.

I'm suffering* from this atm with strawberries. There is a haunting smell
of going-rotten strawberries on the allotment, but I can't pick enough of
them to keep up! (We can mostly polish them off, as long as we remember
where we put them, though)
Each time I run out of picking time and have to be Elsewhere I find another
little collection of them and have to stop to pick them ...

2. In spite of the thorn hazard, you must hug the bush. That is to say, one
by one, bring each branch in turn into your arms. Then you can be sure that
you have garnered every last berry.

I've just been on a first aid course, and each day I've been turning up with
more and more scratches up my arms. My entire right arm is just a mass of
bloody scratches. Mostly going across, but one or two running down, too.
All from raspberries, gooseberries and some really evil snags from my
beautiful-but-viscious rose!

3. Do not harvest by bending over. That is the recipe for back-ache. Get
yourself a
little stool and sit right down beside the bush. This also assists with (2)
above.

Now that is a plan that I hadn't thought of!

Old Grumpy's Guide to Gooseberry Gathering
 

"The Weary Gardener" wrote in message
...
1. It is always worth going after that last tiny scrawny berry because
you'll discover yet another 10 luscious berries each the size of bull's
********.

2. In spite of the thorn hazard, you must hug the bush. That is to say,
one
by one, bring each branch in turn into your arms. Then you can be sure
that
you have garnered every last berry.

3. Do not harvest by bending over. That is the recipe for back-ache. Get
yourself a
little stool and sit right down beside the bush. This also assists with
(2) above.

After the Water Co (WOCAB) finished trashing our allotment and we got the
compensation, I decided to plant only thornless fruit. It took time to find
a supplier of 'Pax', goosegogs, but find them I did. I ordered them and
received them. It was only after I planted them and was back at home reading
the blurb on the label that I noticed the term was 'Almost' thornless.

I suspect that come harvesting time this will mean sufficiently few thorns
to lull one into a false sense of security enough to get a good savaging
from the few almost thorns there are.

Steve