My gooseberry bushes hate me

[OchreBlue]

I inherited a row of huge gooseberry bushes at my allotment that fruit prolifically and try to kill me everytime I go near them. I never get more than a quarter of the crop at best, I wear thick elbow length gloves and still come away with deep scratches all over me, and those horrible tiny broken off spines in my finger tips. Some of this years crop is still on the bushes because I can't get to them.

I'm so fed up with them, is there a way of drastically pruning them so they can't attack me? I pruned them heavily the year before last but they grew back double the size and more ferocious than ever. I should I just burn them to the ground and stick with nice friendly blackcurrants?

The best way we've found is to be strict about pruning them back into a very open cup shape each year - that way you (hopefully) minimise how much or how often you have to reach into the centre of the bush with your vulnerable arms .

We also found it easier to kind of sweep along the branch to harvest them - it sounds counter intuitive but results in less pricking.

e.g.

Ah perfect thank you, I will try that technique. Might need some more industrial strength leather gloves like his too, I think mine are too soft. I will attempt pruning into a cup too although a lot of my branches seem to come out of the central stem and go up and out so I think I'll end up removing most of them but that's probably a good thing. Thanks!

I’ve got some briar gloves that are strong and thick enough for me to pull up brambles and nettles without getting hurt. Maybe they would help? I got them off Amazon during lockdown but can’t recall the exact name.

There are some glove recommendations on this thread

Can anyone recommend a set of heavy duty gauntlets for removing large brambles? www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/4339732-Can-anyone-recommend-a-set-of-heavy-duty-gauntlets-for-removing-large-brambles

You might be better off with no gloves. Greater delicacy of touch. My gooseberries are a tangled mess but I don’t get prickled

This year I dug mine up, cut them back hard and trained them up the fence. They still grew like mad but it was much easier to get to the fruit as I didn't have to dodge past any other branches! My DC usually pick (and eat) them and didn't have any problems this year.

Thanks, I will look at the glove thread good idea.
MereDintofPandiculation I have tried without gloves as I tend to end up with giant soft gooseberries that squish easily but I always end up covered in scratches.

@SalaciousCrumble that's a great idea, they are near a fence so could do this. Did you train them in a fan shape?

@OchreBlue yes I aimed for a rough fan shape - they have put on a lot of growth over the summer so aren't so well shaped any more but I'll prune them back in a couple of weeks and aim for that shape again, it has worked well for me so far!

I think a fan would work really well, I'm going to try that thanks SalaciousCrumble! Great idea