Gooseberry · Baoshan, Shanghai, China
When to plant gooseberries in Baoshan
Main outdoor window
13 Dec - 17 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
3 March
In Baoshan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 31 Jul
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Baoshan
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Plant the bush
13 Dec - 17 Feb
Any time the plant is dormant and the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged: after leaf fall in autumn, or at the end of winter before growth restarts.
Harvest
1 Jun - 31 Jul
Gooseberries through the year
Against the frost risk in Baoshan
Why these dates
Very hardy, and among the earliest fruit to flower, which occasionally costs part of the crop in a frosty spring.
Gooseberries are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Baoshan is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.
Baoshan sits in zone 9a, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 2, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Baoshan
Other fruits to time
Growing gooseberries in Baoshan
When should I plant gooseberries in Baoshan?
Aim for 13 Dec - 17 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 1 Dec - 28 Feb - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will gooseberries be ready to harvest in Baoshan?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 31 Jul, based on 70 to 90 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will gooseberries tolerate?
Very hardy, and among the earliest fruit to flower, which occasionally costs part of the crop in a frosty spring.