I've never grown currents or eaten them for that matter. :-[ Do they have an advantage over other berries I should know about? If you had to choose between them or growing somethiing else which would you choose?
There's nothing to beat the tanginess of blackcurrant in jam, and later, when they are really ripe and soft they can be eaten straight from the bush.
The sweetest berry I have is tayberry - its a very thorny one, but the berries are almost wine-like. The advantage with climbing berries like blackberry, loganberry, tayberry is that you can use vertical space, although you do need to construct a decent sturdy framework with posts and wires for them to grow along, as they do get heavy. None of these seem to suffer from many pests or diseases, so are pretty easy.
Blackcurrants and raspberries take up floor space, but if you have it, do grow them. And, for rasps, I'd always go for autumn fruiting varieties, they are easier to manage, no messing with supporting canes over winter.
The hybrid berry Jostaberry is grown as a bush and is very vigorous, again doesn't seem to suffer much from p&d, and tastes like a blackcurranty gooseberry in a way.
Which leads me to my all time favourite - gooseberry. A bit of a bugger to grow in a fashion that provides crop and doesn't scratch you to bits - you need to prune them properly and develop a good shape, or grow as cordons. And if you don't get a resistant variety, they get mildew and the leaves get eaten by sawfly, etc etc. My best performeris Invicta. The flavour is superb in jam, and again, later when those berries are soft, ripe and golden, eating them straight from the bush is absolute heaven. So gooseberry gets my vote.
I have never eaten home grown invicta but from the shop it is not so nice. A lot of people say the flavour is not so good what do you think Jennym ?
As a child I eat my Gran's home grown gooseberries and they were lovely but shop ones are not so nice. If they are home grown are they nicer (I hope so I have planted some).
I agree with you that Tayberry and Jostaberry are wonderful how close do you grow yours ?
One thing I would suggest people try is white currant. The ony difficult thing is working out when they are ripe.
Just put in a Goosberry called Whinhams industry as anybody grow this one?
Quote from: froglegs on February 18, 2008, 12:34:01
Just put in a Goosberry called Whinhams industry as anybody grow this one?
I have 3 reds - the thornless Pax (not been a good cropper so far), the other 2 are great and were laden last year: Whinhams Industry and Hinnonmaki Red.
Quote from: GrannieAnnie on February 18, 2008, 10:07:48
I've never grown currents or eaten them for that matter. :-[ Do they have an advantage over other berries I should know about? If you had to choose between them or growing somethiing else which would you choose?
Blackcurrants are very high in vitamin C, sweetly tart getting sweeter as they ripen as Jennym said. Redcurrants are less tart and I like the flavour if them too.
I got all excited- found a source for some of the currants and Hinnomaki gooseberries- then read they cannot ship to our state due to pine blister rust. Back to the drawing board.
Quote from: GrannieAnnie on February 19, 2008, 01:05:53
I got all excited- found a source for some of the currants and Hinnomaki gooseberries- then read they cannot ship to our state due to pine blister rust. Back to the drawing board.
Have you tried http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/index.cfm they stock them & appear to ship anywhere within the US.
I just emailed our state ag. extension to see what the law is here since John_Miller said there are now resistant varieties permitted in some places. A long time ago we purchased a Pixwell gooseberry and I've transplanted it each time we've moved.
You may have to email me in Jail ;D
Gosh..................a gooseberry convict ???
Dont worry we will get you out, we all have spades........to dig a tunnel!! ;D
Winhams is a great red dessert gooseberry... had to take mine out after about ten years when the mildew became too bad...
:'(
Quote from: saddad on February 19, 2008, 16:58:19
Winhams is a great red dessert gooseberry... had to take mine out after about ten years when the mildew became too bad...
:'(
Did you try bicarbonate solution ?
Quote from: davholla on February 18, 2008, 11:30:28
I have never eaten home grown invicta but from the shop it is not so nice. A lot of people say the flavour is not so good what do you think Jennym ?
I think the flavour is good, I like the way it varies from being very tart when only just ripe, to being beautifully sweet when very ripe and soft. And they don't seem to get mildew.
Quote from: davholla on February 18, 2008, 11:30:28
I agree with you that Tayberry and Jostaberry are wonderful how close do you grow yours ?
I grow the tayberries about 10 ft apart and the jostaberries about 8ft apart. The tayberry plants I have are very thorny and I grow them in 2 ways, on large size plastic covered wire mesh fencing, and on posts and wire. I prefer the posts & wire method.
Quote from: davholla on February 18, 2008, 11:30:28
One thing I would suggest people try is white currant. The ony difficult thing is working out when they are ripe.
I had trouble with these when first growing them, but now I grow Blanka and they are ripe when the berries are almost translucent and a slightly golden colour. They are advertised as a late fruiting variety, but I've found that they are only a couple of weeks later than my redcurrants. They don't seem to be so prolific a cropper, but I don't use many so it suits me, and the flavour is good.
Quote from: GrannieAnnie on February 19, 2008, 10:14:26
I just emailed our state ag. extension to see what the law is here since John_Miller said there are now resistant varieties permitted in some places. A long time ago we purchased a Pixwell gooseberry and I've transplanted it each time we've moved.
You may have to email me in Jail ;D
The state ag person just called to say they are trying to revise the law so the whole state has the same ruling. He said if I planned to break the law "break it by planting red or white currants rather than black" since they seem to be more resistant to the rust. And they aren't to be planted closer than 500 ft. to a white pine. He also was curious if I was European since currants haven't really caught on in the US much like squash are just catching on in UK.
Quote from: GrannieAnnie on February 19, 2008, 22:41:55He also was curious if I was European since currants haven't really caught on in the US much like squash are just catching on in UK.
Blackcurrants are popular in the UK partly because of the 2nd World War - according to Wikipedia -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackcurrant#History
QuoteDuring World War II most fruits rich in vitamin C, such as oranges, became almost impossible to obtain in the United Kingdom. Since blackcurrant berries are a rich source of vitamin C and blackcurrant plants are suitable for growing in the UK climate, blackcurrant cultivation was encouraged by the British government. Soon, the yield of the nation's crop increased significantly. From 1942 on almost the entire British blackcurrant crop was made into blackcurrant syrup (or cordial) and distributed to the nation's children free, giving rise to the lasting popularity of blackcurrant flavourings in Britain.
Blackcurrants were once popular in the United States as well, but they became extremely rare in the 20th century after currant farming was banned in the early 1900s. The ban was enacted when it was discovered that blackcurrants helped to spread the tree disease White Pine Blister Rust, which was thought to threaten the then-booming U.S. lumber industry
Thats very enlightening davholla, with all your new info GA you may be able to have some currants at least. The red and white ones are still very nice, though I dont think they contain as much vit C as the black ones.
Good luck......and here's hoping you live further than 500feet from white pines ;)