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Just been out to pick a tub of cherries and raspberries- crumble tonight!
That is all.
Strawberries, raspberries and a few blackcurrants for us 🙂
Not pickings as such. One of the 3 main apple tree branches just fell off. So that's a 1/3rd of the crop, unripe and on the floor. Thinking chutney is the only option.
Not pickings as such. One of the 3 main apple tree branches just fell off. So that’s a 1/3rd of the crop, unripe and on the floor. Thinking chutney is the only option.
Sorry to hear that. OH made a belter apple and chili jam/chutney a few years ago that was ace with curries if that helps at all. Nice on cheese butties too.
Tried some of the local winberries on a walk last night. Couple of more weeks and they should be ready for picking.
Tomatoes are a few days off still for the first crop and my hops are starting to form cones. We've had some peppers and salad already, but the rest of the veg is nearly there.
crumble
Bit of a waste.
Liqueur 😉
Bit of a waste.Liqueur 😉
Oh, there'll be a cherry and a raspberry gin as well 🍹
Sorry to hear that. OH made a belter apple and chili jam/chutney a few years ago that was ace with curries if that helps at all. Nice on cheese butties too.
Sounds great, will do the same. I have a good stash of chilis.
Strawberries and the chanterelles have strayed too
Looks like our first pea pods will be ready next week - when we are away on holiday.
The birds demolished my gooseberries this morning, absolute sods.
Even after netting the birds only left is a couple of dozen cherries which got picked this morning.
Strawberries still going but probably past their peak but currants and raspberries kicking into gear.
The way you know dessert gooseberries are properly ripe is the birds have the lot. Nets or picking slightly unripe seem to be the only options for us. Slightly unripe is still good for jam and pies though, just a bit sour for eating raw.
Pic below of last week's gosseberry thinning pick. I think the rest need doing this week after the rain.
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Edit: cherry and raspberry gin sounds lush. Cheers
We spent £60 on proper netting and pipes (the blue bendy type) to hold it over the strawberry and raspberry patches. The local badger decides it's partial to strawberries, it ploughs through the netting, eats a few and tramples at least half of the rest. Another evening badger comes back and has a go at the raspberries, this time it got properly tangled. A fight ensued, badger won. Luckily the badger wasn't harmed and not a raspberry was touched. We've had to weigh down the netting with heavy bricks and that's kept him away.
Everything in the greenhouse is slow to ripen and my french beans haven't grown. Will pot some more and see if they work.
Rhubarb and blackcurrants harvested today. Hoping the birds leave us some gooseberries. This is a new garden for us. Next year we’ll be better defended with nets.
Looks like being a bumper year for berries. The blackbirds had most of our gooseberries so we need to net those better but the few we had were delicious. And they had the strawberries too. Loads of raspberries, blueberries, red and blackcurrants coming - any recipes for those very welcome. Never seen so many apples either.
Picking strawberries earlier the local slug controller hopped out to say hello.
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Best recipe for use the soft fruit has to be summer pudding (you can use frozen fruit too so keep making it all winter).
Tooany blackcurrants and too lazy to top and tail then making cordial is good. You can freeze it in plastic bottles as its shelf life in the fridge is only a few weeks (assuming you don't drink it all in the first week of course).
I am well jel of those strawberries! I can report the crumble was ace and that the left over fruit has been frozen for use later on. There's a hod of apples growing locally too but they're a good few weeks off yet.
My cherries are not yet ripe. This is easily discerned from a distance as the instant they're edible the pigeons will have them.
Quite well into the spuds and beetroot now, sage is coming along nicely, onions too.
Had a couple of helpings of goseberries and raspberries but plenty to be going at still.
Plums and apples look promising.