Tackling gooseberries and bindweed

18:03 9th June 2008

As June continues and the weather warms up, there are a number of horticultural tasks that gardeners should tackle, a sector commentator has asserted.

Writing in the online pages of the Daily Telegraph, Elspeth Thompson explains that gooseberries are the first soft fruit of the year to ripen, adding that green-fingered enthusiasts can obtain super-sized berries by thinning out every other small fruit when they are around half an inch long.

"These can be used for cooking with no compromise in flavour. Keep well-watered in the next few weeks to allow the remaining fruit to swell and sweeten up. This is particularly worthwhile with dessert cultivars," Ms Thompson continues.

She also suggests that if bindweed is causing problems in areas where it is tricky to dig the roots out, then now is the perfect time to treat it with a glyphosate-based weed killer.

The Royal Horticultural Society notes that bindweed's roots can extend up to 15 feet into the earth.