Six Figs Farm LLC

by Mike

So one day, while planning some more planting of berry bushes, Sunday asked if I had any ideas. Well, as a kid in Sweden, we had these really yummy berries called “Krusbär.” Any possibility they would grow here in Georgia?

Sunday researched and found that “Krusbär” are gooseberries, and the variety that seemed closest to what I remembered is called “Pixwell.”

Gooseberries might grow here, but are borderline on zone- we might be a bit too warm. That’s not surprising, since Georgia is quite a bit warmer than Sweden. Unfortunately, gooseberries don’t like heat. This was going to be a gamble.

We decided it was worth a try, and maybe we would get fruit if the plants didn’t die in the summer. We would mulch heavily and keep well hydrated, and see what happened.

We planted in Spring of 2018, the plants didn’t die, and we are seeing a few berries now, just one year later. Can’t wait for them to be ripe so I can revisit this childhood taste, and share them with the rest of the family.

Update year 2, 2020. We ended up with just a few handfuls of berries. Tart and sweet, we enjoyed them tremendously.

Update, year 3, 2021. We harvested approximately 6.5 pounds of berries from our four bushes. The bushes are quite large- about 3 feet tall and 5 feet wide, and some of the branches are 5-6 feet long. We’ve taken cuttings to propagate. Evidently they like it here.