In history William Turner described the gooseberry in his
Herball, written about the middle of the 16th century, and a few years later it is mentioned in one of Thomas Tusser's quaint rhymes as an ordinary object of garden culture. Improved varieties were probably first raised by the skilful gardeners of
Holland, whose name for the fruit,
Kruisbezie, may have been corrupted into the present English vernacular word. In
Britain, it is often found in
copses and
hedgerows and about old ruins, but the gooseberry has been cultivated for so long that it is difficult to distinguish wild bushes from feral ones, or to determine where the gooseberry fits into the native flora of the island. Although gooseberries are now abundant in Germany and France, it does not appear to have been much grown there in the
Middle Ages; while the old English name,
fea-berry, still surviving in some provincial dialects, indicates that it was similarly valued in Britain, where it was planted in gardens at a comparatively early period. The
climate of the
British Isles seems peculiarly adapted to bring the gooseberry to perfection, and it may be grown successfully even in the most northern parts of
Scotland; indeed, the flavour of the fruit is said to improve with increasing latitude. In
Norway even, the bush flourishes in gardens on the west coast nearly up to the
Arctic Circle, and it is found wild as far north as 63°. It will succeed in almost any soil but prefers a rich loam or black alluvium, and, though naturally a plant of rather dry places, will do well in moist land, if drained.
Ribes gooseberries are commonly raised from cuttings rather than seed; cuttings planted in the autumn will take root quickly and begin to bear fruit within a few years. Nevertheless, bushes planted from seed also rapidly reach maturity, exhibit similar pest-tolerance, and yield heavily. Fruit is produced on lateral spurs and the previous year's shoots.
Insect habitat Gooseberry bushes (
Ribes) are hosts to magpie moth (
Abraxas grossulariata)
caterpillars. v-moth (
Macaria wauaria), and gooseberry sawfly (
Nematus ribesii).
Nematus ribesii grubs will bury themselves in the ground to pupate; on hatching into adult form, they lay their eggs, which hatch into larvae on the underside of gooseberry leaves. == Culinary uses ==