What is everyone harvesting at the moment? With the wide climate range of all our different parts of Europe I wondered just what was ready where, and also might be inspired to try some other plants or varieties.
So, this week I've lifted a few new potatoes - Charlotte and Red Duke of York. I'm doing well keeping a supply of lettuce going, I've tried lots of new varieties this year, and have four different ones just germinating ready to follow on. Then there are mangetout peas in the greenhouse - a small packet from the Heritage Seed Library I thought I would keep an eye on. They are quite productive for only ten seeds and taste good too. Then we're eating radish, swiss chard - from last year's sowing, spinach, baby beetroot, and carrots - also in the greenhouse. I've also had a lemon from the conservatory. It is only a small plant, but has had 23 lemons on it - we're down to the last five and I think it is having a rest as it hasn't had any more flowers on it for a while. Then I've made the last picking of asparagus before letting it grow to fern and lots and lots of rhubarb. I've also had my first strawberries this evening - no one else knows they are ready yet! They are Ciflorette a French variety and very sweet and tasty they are elongated and look like a giant alpine strawberry. When I found the strawberries ripening I had to search for my nets and spent the reast of the evening covering two strawberry beds and the cherry, red currants and raspberries up before the blackbirds find them.
The nettle beer I made a couple of weeks ago went down a treat. There is only one bottle left, so I shall certainly try that recipe again.
After a late start it is lovely when the garden gets productive again, and with the slug problem amazing there is anything reaching maturity at all.
WHAT CROPS HAVE YOU PICKED THIS WEEK?
wow, thats impressive, lemons too...I see most of your crops are from the greenhouse, at what time do you sow those? and are they sown in the ground or pots? I never think to use the greenhouse apart from seed sowing late summer/winter and overwintering cuttings, and the usual toms in the summer.
I even had to buy my pepper/aubergine plants this time from B&Q as my seeds eother didn't germinate, or they got chomped ...and I begrudge paying a £1.00 per plant when i know you can grow laods for that amount from seed, but I was desperate to be growing my own this year, here's hope they do well.
I've never grown these plants in pots before, always the soil, but thats full of toms, so I guess that I must keep ontop of the watering.
As to what crops we've had this year so far...zilch!!..
Now, if you were to ask our birds,slugs and snails what they'd had so far...beetroot, celery, celeriac, broad beans, onions...must be the best fed slugs on the lotty...
Oh Sue - that's quite a list for the peskies!!
Your list is very impressive Pat!
This week everything is drying up and going crisp. I've harvested the remaining broad beans to sow in the autumn and there are some floppy lettuces. The snap peas 'Sugar Bon' did very well til a few days ago - very taken with those and glad that I have another row coming along. The swiss chard is wilted and needing water. ooooh raspberries - I planted some Autumn Bliss and they are doing even better than I hoped. The mulberries are juicy too...and a few strawberries
The french beans are just starting to flower and I have some little tomatoes like pearls, Broad Ripple Yellow Currant.... The Salt Spring Sunrise are a little larger than that but my other types aren't setting - I think it's too hot and dry.
The parsley was doing well, but is now distinctly sad.
Bit of a sorry state at the moment
I sow directly into the greenhouse border from about March and keep them covered with fleece supported on the wire frames of cloches. I put a few potatoes in at the same time if I have some which are sprouting early.
I also start lettuce in seed trays and plant them out in the greenhouse border. I planted quite a few parsley plants and lettuce last autumn as I cleared the peppers out and they over-wintered very well. A constant supply of parsley and some very early lettuce this year.
I read a book about keeping your garden productive all the year round and am doing my best to keep a succession of salads at least. It surprised me how early some stray tomato seeds started to germinate in the cold greenhouse border, so I thought if it is warm enough for them it must be OK for lots of other plants even though we have had a much colder and longer winter than for quite a while. I start most other things off in the propagator in the warm end of the greenhouse. I have constructed a bubble plastic lining over a third of the greenhouse and just keep the frost off in there with a heater, mainly to over winter a few more tender plants. I keep thinking with the cost of electricity it would probably be cheaper not to have any heat and just replace the plants that died, but I'm afraid I'm not so ruthless.
We've had a good thunder storm this afternoon, so the ground has had a good wetting, unfortunately that has brought the slugs and snails out instantly so it is going to be a productive slug hunting night I think. I think I'd better get out there now. Hope you get some rain soon.
Thanks Pat. Forecast for the end of the week, but I won't hold my breath LOL
Yes, I agree with you over trying to keep plants going. It's not just the thought of something dying, but the enormous sense of achievment when you bring them through - probably out of all proportion........
I've just picked the first courgette of the year. Verde di Milano from Real Seeds. The plant is very attractive with silver patterns on the leaves and it says it is an early producing variety with excellent flavour. Which I can confirm. I'll try to remember to take a photo tomorrow.
I've just planted some of those out Pat (first sowings got eaten by mices...)
We also cropped some well-netted strawberries last week, the first ever crops this year, we sat and eat them there and then...yum!!...
I sometimes wonder how much more produce we would get if the wildlife didn't take their share, but I don't mind the occasional plant disappearing. As you say, it is really upsetting when the whole row of seedlings vanishes, or never appears in the first place. I had quite a bit of success using cut off pop bottles to protect small plants a couple of years ago, but we don't seem to drink pop now so don't get any bottles.
Here is a photo of the courgette I mentioned. We've had a couple more off it today.
And here is net city! In the foreground are yellow podded mangetout peas, then two rows of Robinson peas from the heritage seed library and then two lots of strawberries under nets. We've had 6lb of strawberries so far this week - scrumptious. Ciflorette and Marshmello are my favourites.
Oh that our plot looked like that...
We went up yesterday and put in more plants, Trail of tears beans, winter squashes, and a few more cabbages, we decided that we're going to invest in a few more nets and tunnels.
we've tried the bottles, works o.k. trouble is neither of us use much in the way of plastic bottles, perhaps we should raid the neighbours recycling bin. We started using plastic pots with their bottoms cut off, though these didn't seem to work so well, in fact we found snails and slugs nestling inside the pots, along side the stripped plants!!...
the peas started coming through . hoping they're still there next visit, should have netted those maybe...we'll see.These are the yelow mange tout type from The Real seed co, never grown these before.
I also harvested my first courgettes this week - I was late getting them (and almost everything else) in the ground this year. Have had substantial pickings of yellow raspberries since mid-may - they seem to do much better than the red type here. They usually give a second crop in Autumn. This year the red-currants and gooseberries have given several kilos of fruit, and last week I made 15 pots of jam and jelly, plus gooseberry crumble and gooseberry pie. Last night we harvested a handful of yellow plums - the entire crop this year I'm afraid. Some years we get lots, others next to nothing -not sure why.
Lots of lettuces too, thanks to the next door neighbour who got his act together and planted plenty at the beginning of May - mine are still too small to harvest. At least I've been able to supply him with potatoes which he didn't plant -good harvests of white and red varieties this year. Sorry, I can't remember the names of the varieties, but the local hypermarket were selling them, and they're very good!
Maggi xxxx
My yellow mangetout are from the Real Seed co too Sue. They are just opening their flowers which are very pretty and do look quite unusual against the distinctly yellow end shoots. Looking forward to sampling them.
Your fruit is way ahead of mine Maggi, although I've picked about 10 lb of strawberries so far. There are lots of plums on this year here too. I've one tree - Opal which only fruits on alternate years, but has such a heavy crop when it does fruit that I think it needs a rest the following year to recover.
I've spent the afternoon trying to get the net over a 12 foot cherry tree. After trying some rather complicated ideas thought up by my son, I ended up teetering on top of a ladder in the top of the tree, dragging the net like a rope from one side of the tree to the other and then got Jim and David to ease it down over the branches while I undid all the bits that snagged on the twigs. It touches the ground so the bottom of the net is held down with bricks so the birds can't get underneath it and I should get some nice juicy cherries in a couple of weeks. I'll have to dig the recipes out again. There was so much fruit last year we still haven't drunk all the wine I made. It has matured very nicely. While I was at Harlow Car gardens the other day I looked how much they were selling their cherry wine for and it was £6.25! I've still got about 18 bottles left - I'll have to get a stall. On second thoughts I'd rather drink it myself it will taste even better now I know how much they think it is worth.
I was going to invest in a fruit cage, but they are so expensive, so I bought a long roll of heavy duty bird netting, wide enough to easily cover everything and just cut it to size. I sometimes make a frame from posts or garden canes, but it is just as effective draped over whatever I want to keep the birds off. If they get a few through the net I don't mind, at least I get most of the crop, although that cherry tree is a bit of a challenge. My son says he is going to book his holidays to coincide with putting the net on next year so he won't get involved.
Pat that is a nice looking cherry tree! I had a fairly old one, the birds got them all but they weren't very tasty. It got a disease and died, very quickly. They can get a sort of canker.
I need to net my blackcurrants, they are laid on the ground and blackbirds already seem to be getting some half ripe fallen ones. I have a couple of nets but they are not very wide, I could try joining them. Weave together with nylon thread might do it.
How wide is that net, it must be huge! Did you get it from a garden centre?
I have a Victoria plum, they do say they only produce fruit well every 2nd year but since I mulched the bed, about 5 years ago, it gets lots on every year. It needs another one. 2 years ago there were so many they were dropping off half grown, and I ended up with very few. It was a hot, dry year. This year is getting to be dry, now warmer than we expect, and every opportunity for it to get very hot!
Your cherry wine sounds delicious, and it should be good for you. I made some sloe gin many years ago, it was out of this world. I don't think I can be bothered now, but you can't beat the home made.
My strawberries seem to be behind everyone elses, but I have picked two collanders full, some to eat, jammed the rest. The jam sets very well, when there is little water the fruit seems to be better at setting. Jamming small amounts possibly helps too, it reduces easier without over-cooking and I have got jam that resembles sticky toffee!
Do you find that the birds seem to eat the cherries just before they're ripe? mine do.
I ought to think about netting the trees perhaps, we've never had more than a couple of cherries from them, and even then I've eaten them under ripe so's I get to them before the birds...easier to net the tree perhaps..or maybe not? not sure who I can con into helping me...hubby for sure would end up braeking half the branches off in his haste to get the job done...and daughter is no lover of jobs that might involve broken nails and dirt!!...youngest daughter ,being a lover of all living creatures would only moan at me ,and tell me that they have as much right to the fruit as we do...then proceed to ask me to buy a punnet of cherries from the shops...
Sue, they eat any fruit as soon as it gets a hint of colour! Times have changed, even for the blackbirds. Once they waited just a little longer to eat strawberries, this year they started with just a pink flush on one side. Competition rules.
Gosh don't kids have a different attitude on work compared to what we used to do, we do too much for them! I blame the Spice Girls........
Re the fruit net, I bought a length 8 metres wide by 100 metres long from Kays Horticultural, and have just about covered everything that needs covering and I have only used half of it! I thought I might construct a proper fruit cage myself, so I probably have enough to make at least one from what is left - if I ever get round to doing it.
That cherry is a sweet one, disease free and very productive. One year when I didn't have any assistance, I tied fleece round the bottom of the tree as far as I could reach and used string, clothes pegs and whatever I had to hand to secure it. Even though only a third of the tree was protected from birds, I still picked 22 lb of cherries and the birds got the rest. Last year I picked 60 lb from the whole tree and when I got fed up with processing and eating them I took the net off and the birds had the remainder, so we shared them.
I also got tired of them - especially the blue tits - just pecking the red bits off as they ripened and totally spoiling the fruit.
The only other problem with cherries is that if it rains when they are nearly ripe, they split.
Pat that sounds like it earns it's keep! do you know the name of the cherry?
I had a giggle when you mentioned clothes pegs. I have a nectarine tree which I'm still waiting on for fruits, a couple of years ago I put fleece over it and clipped it down to the branches with pegs as bluetits were pecking off the new buds and thus flowers. As soon as it went on the wind blew gales for a week, had to keep pegging it, but by the end the fleece was shredded! Each year I count a measly few fruits plumping up only to fall at a still tiny 3/8" to 1/2".
I do have an Apricot Tomcot I planted as a maiden last year, it grew well and this year has 2 apricots STILL on. They had both been pecked too, but healed over! It's bred for cold climates.
Hi Janet, The cherry is called Cherokee and is deliciously sweet. I also have a smaller one I bought a couple of years ago called Petit Noire which as its name suggests small with almost black cherries and also a sweet rich flavour, although this is more susceptible to splitting than the Cherokee.
I have thought about buying an apricot Tomcot, but can't think of a good place for one - maybe next year.
I've just come in from a slug hunt and out of curiosity had a second look at some brassicas I've just transplanted. I got about six slugs off them on the first trawl, and about half an hour later found another twelve. I've no idea where they were hiding. It makes you feel like getting a chair and waiting for them, but I'm not that desperate yet.
Pat, my Apricot was the very first plant I put in what is now my 'tropical' bed. I am tempted to try a cherry, but like you need a space! I like the sound of the black one, Ilove black cherries.
I think you should pull up a chair, get out a bottle of cherry wine, and sit and wait! Get merry while you're at it!
LOL, I can just picture you sat in chair, glass in hand, waiting to pounce on any poor unsuspecting slug that should dare to venture forth...and make a beeline for your brassicas.
Saying that though, I,m wondering if ours have survived up tha allotment with all this wet weather...
The cherry wine is a bit potent, so I think I'll stay in and drink it in comfort and forget about the slugs for a while!
The thunderstorm at the weekend was very welcome, it was torrential for over an hour and has made the new potatoes swell nicely. Got a good boiling from just one root today.
I've tried a few of the Yellow Podded mangetout peas from Real Seeds today even though they were still quite small. They were very tender, I tried a couple raw and steamed the rest for a couple of minutes. Have you tried yours yet Sue? They have set a huge number of pods but they are very small. I'm going to let them grow for a few days to see what size the pods get to, but I don't want them to get too big or they will stop flowering. I usually just keep one strong plant and let it set seeds for next year.
I'm also still picking the mangetout from the Heritage Seed Library - called 'Eat All' - very original! They are also nice and sweet and tender and seem quite a bit larger than the yellow ones.
The courgettes are cropping nicely and the Italian one from Real Seeds is the best flavour of the three varieties I've grown.
I'm also getting lots of different lettuces also from Real Seeds. Pablo is a good size and nice and crisp and there is a very pretty one with red freckles with a rather long German name beginning with F which I can't remember at the moment. I've also just transplanted some red and green mixed Salad Bowl which were free with a magazine. The red ones are a very deep wine colour, so should get some interesting salads. Oh and another one from Real Seeds is Crisp Mint, but they aren't large enough to eat yet.
The tomatoes are swelling rapidly, but aren't ripening yet - I did sow them rather later than usual this year. There are lots on, so I'll just have to be patient. I resent buying supermarket tomatoes as they hardly ever taste as good as they look even if they say they are vine ripened.
Picked another 5lb strawberries today too. They smelled divine in the hot sunshine.
Howdy,
Just thought I would let you know that down to the southwest of you all we are picking mango and avocado this week. Tomatoes and sweet peppers are winter crops, I miss them. But sweet corn is coming down from the north and it is 5 ears for 1 Euro.
Hi there dlae, yep, still up!
Love both mango and avocado, gee tomatoes and peppers winter crop? Mine are very late, but only just a summer crop here!
Sweet corn I do have a few plants (10) looking good now, starting to make ears. You would only get 2 for one euro here if lucky, and they would most likely be dried up.
Taken 4 days ago, they are a lot further on now with the hot 30C weather we had. It's my neighbours greenhouse, the weeds behind are not mine! Tomatoes and peppers are.
Oh to be able to grow and crop advocados and mangos, I'm having trouble getting the toms going...
In fact i seem to have that trouble every year. It doesn't matter when I start them off, they seem to take an age to actually produce fruit...looking at this years, I'm sure it'll be the end of July before I will be able to pick anything off of them...I just can't seem to get them to crop any earlier, no matter what I do.
As against that I persueded hubby he'd like to take me to the allotment last night to pick some strawberries for our pudds...even he was impressed on how many we gathered from our raised beds, but he also lookes ashamedly around at the ever growing grass of our 'orchard' and muttered words to the effect that he'd try to get up there this week to strim it for us....yippeee...
The tomatoes are a bit slow this year - probably the late frosts held everything back.
Oh how I wish I could grow mangoes Dale - my favourite fruit. How large does the tree have to be to bear fruit? I could perhaps put one in the conservatory - it's nearly 12 feet high.
I have finally cleared all the spare peppers, aubergines and tomatoes out of the greenhouse that were slowly deteriorating in their little pots and they are all outside planted in the garden, so at least they will have a chance. I'm squashing so much into any scrap of space that I'm going to have difficulty remembering where I put them when it comes to gathering the crop - assuming there is one.
Pat, a turly obsessed gardener could crop a mango at about 10 feet. Think espailier or is it espaller?. Needs wind to set fruit. I work on one place that has 11 different varieties. The lady of the house has decided there are too many and we are doing an analysis this year of which to keep. The gentleman of the house, who planted them, has reluctantly agreed. Some of the trees are 25 feet tall and these old bones are not looking forward to that removal job. So far this year I have removed 8 citrus, removed 2 smaller tropicals that no one could remember what they produce because they hadn't and moved 3 others. If you are serious I can make an air layer of one or two or the better ones, but I will want to trade for them. We have one tree that produces fruit the size of a small melon. I will take photos when I am working there, that is my Tuesday job. Here is some wallpaper...
Wallaby,
I have been going over your post times and it looks to me like you are up 24/7. And based on your research skills I am sure you are Artifical Intelligence in disguise.
I will be starting my toms and peppers next month, 23 Aug is the day. I have to force myself to schedule my home events or nothing would ever happen here. I should have some fruit by Xmas. This year I did my shopping at www.totallytomato.com They offer packs that are mixed varieties. I went for the mixed cherry toms, Ponderosa mix and the rainbow mix of sweet pepper. I just can't make up my mind so I will plant them all and see who the survivors are.
I envy everyone's glass houses. I wish I had one for myself. I would set up an air conditioning unit and cool things down. I would grow lilacs, peony and Spruce trees. Those are the plants of my younger years.
I have been on a 'small flower' design kick this year, here is my inspiration (and supplier)..
This message was edited Jul 6, 2006 6:20 AM
One more photo, it is getting light and time to get ready to go to work, so I can be home and in the AC by 1PM. Short work days this time of year.
dale, blame DG for my staying up late! But it is fun, and a happy person is a healthier person, so I defend my lengthy hours on the net! A.I. stood for something else when I was young, my father was a dairy farmer....
I normally sow my tomato seed on 23rd March, coincidental date but months separated, it just feels like the right day. I normally get a ripe tomato by August 2nd, but last year it was a cold spring and I was late, this year was even colder and I was even later! It doesn't seem a lot of sense trying to grow seeds if the weather doesn't suit them. Peppers I usually put in a little later, but this year everything I could get in went in in a prioritised order. I still have tons of seed to sow!
I used to buy from Totally Tomatoes, they came here with a catalogue for a while but went again, so I keep seed from my own favourite varieties. I could now order from the internet, but last year they did OK, if they start to do less well then I can start with new seed. I want to grow so many varieties, but only so much space. The back of the greenhouse had shelving along it, he took it out so I could put in more!
Today I have a tomato setting! Only about a month late! Lots of flowers making now.
Sue, tomatoes have a number of days to maturity, which varies with the variety. They are also I think day length sensitive, sometimes it doesn't seem to matter how much earlier you put them in, you just get a leggier plant, although you can gain a little not a lot, within reason of when seed is sown of course. A heated greenhouse and lights are probably what can gain time, but you need to be dedicated and rich.
Pat, you have a lot more ground than I have, it just gets filled up whatever there is! I am always struggling for that extra spot to put cauliflower, leeks I left out this year, I used to be able to put them in after early potatoes but here I get too much shade and somehow the leeks are ready to transplant before the space is ready. I will miss them though, they don't grow very fat in this soil but are tall, I need lime, and more sun.
Dale, I'm very tempted by your offer of cuttings, let me know how much you want for them if they take. Do you think they would survive the journey?
Perhaps a type that fruits very readily would have a better chance than a melon sized one. I think an elpallier would look rather good in my conservatory. I don't envy you digging all those large trees up. I do most of the gardening here, but try to get my son or partner to do the really heavy jobs, but must admit I quite often end up doing them myself as they take too long to get round to it.
It's funny that we always want to grow things that aren't native or not suited to our climates, or perhaps I'm greedy wanting to grow everything.
I suppose that is what makes us gardeners trying something different and possibly more challenging.
I think you hit the nail on the head, it's the challenge, and not being able to grow something that makes you want it even more, who knows, if due to global warming bindweed, daisies and dandylions became rare in future years, we might be on here discussing the best way to grow and keep them!!...
I went to the the Isles of Scillies a couple of years back for a holiday, and on Bhryr there were Geranium madarense's growing everywhere in the wild, and I was so chuffed when they flowered well in my garden this summer, bought back very happy memories..
Same with Euphorbia mellifera in the Tresco gardens, the scent when you passed them was out of this world.Mine flowered too this summer, though the scent didn't seem as strong, guess we also like to grow things that maybe remind us of happier times/things.
My parents were never into gardening, until they moved to a retirement bungalow, when they had a lovely garden with roses and lavenders and pinks.all those things too I've grown probably because of the memories of sitting in their garden.
They were never into growing veg though, guess they never had the time when younger, and energy when older.In fact until my sister decided to go for an allotment share with me a couple of years ago none of my family were interested in growing veggies...and only a couple of my sisters really liked gardening..
It's quite funny to watch my sister Paddy up the allotment, she's really strugglinmg to cope with the dirt!!...LOL..she hates dirty hands/nails...has the shed immaculate...struggles to cope with crops that have pests on...bit of a learning curve for her I think..she ate her first strawberry straight from our plants last week..and I think was suitably impressed with the flavour, it's so different picked staright from the plant ,still warm from the sun, mind you, she did have to wash it first...
Over here we call it zone denial.
I have one reference book that has the US and Canada carved up into 45 zones. I always use it before I mail order, then ignore it. My success rate is around 10% and have found some wonderful plants. I still order from Thompson & Morgan, Chiltern etc. knowing that English seeds will probably not do well here except in winter.
Pat, I was going to air layer some of the better varieties for my own use, I will include you. We shall see what Sept brings.
Been a busy week, the helper quit suddenly, too hot and too immature for this kind of work. So off I go. I will leave you with another swiped photo.
Bravo for taking up the challenge Sue! I for one do like tropicals and Australian plants because I grew up amongst them, and my mother used to get the Australian Women's Weekly always packed with beautiful pics of tropical plants from other parts of Australia.
We do try to recreate the memories of our youth, it is what gives a comfort and connection with the past, and perhaps a sort of continuity in life. We do use our past learning experiences to recognise and relate to what is around us, sometimes the modern world can be a little overbearing so we bolt off back to happier times.
dale you will get yourself into trouble swiping photos! Don't work too hard..
Pat,
Here is what I picked yesterday.
A MANGO???????!!!!!!!!!!!!! You lucky thing dale ;o))
What a gorgeous fruit Dale, and all those others on the tree too. I'll have to emigrate.
I can just imagine your sister Sue - a gardener who can't stand dirt!
It reminded me of a school project we did with the local infants school when we took compost, pots and sweet pea seeds for them to sow, care for and plant out. Quite a few children were horrified when they had to put compost in the plant pot and touch it to put in the seed. They said their mothers would be cross if they got dirty. Poor things.
Pat
I've tried a few cherries this morning, they are almost ripe, but will be sweeter when they have turned a bit deeper red. Still very enjoyable though. I then moved on to graze on the raspberries and then tried a few of the fattest blackcurrants. Rather lazy gardening, but I was testing them for ripeness wasn't I?
I had to lift all the early potatoes to make room for transplanting the brassicas. There are plenty on, but are quite small due to the dry weather. I've watered them a couple of times, but obviously not enough.
Picked the first runner bean 'Black Magic' and a hand full of climbing French beans too.
The Yellow Podded Mangetout peas are very prolific. I've picked 2lb this week from an 8 foot row. They are quite small pods but tender and sweet and being yellow are very easy to see on the plants. They look a bit insipid when cooked, but look pretty if you cook them with some green ones as well. I think the green ones from HSL - 'Eat All' are slightly sweeter, and they make larger pods. I noticed that little boxes of 150 grammes were £1.45 in the Co-op and they were from Kenya. I think that is just under 6 ounces, so I've saved £5 and lots of air miles - not that I would have bought them in the first place. Why do we import so much stuff that is in season in this country?
Picked the first cucumber today. It is called Sigmadew - another HSL variety. It is about 15 inches long and a pale lemon colour. I was a bit worried that it might taste bitter as I have left all the male flowers on, but it is very pleasant tasting even if the colour is unusual.
The first two tomatoes are colouring up, so I might have my own tomatoes next week.
I've also picked 18 lbs of red currants off one small bush and there is another still to pick. Must buy more sugar and wine yeast and get brewing.
Pat, how I envy you, fresh food is such a delight (and major labor). I have not eaten a fresh currant from the bush in 40 yrs and I can still remember that tart taste. But the raspberries from the edge of the woods will always be my fav. The alpine strawberries was always a fun search too.
Nothing in the garden here but heat, humidity and the mosquito horde.
Flowers are looking tho even if it not my garden...
That's a lot of currants for one bush! I had one years ago but didn't hang around to see it fully develop. I got 5.75 lbs of blackcurrants, from one bush and a new young one I grew from a cutting. I had 7 lbs 2 years ago,. last year the birds got most but I got nets over this year. I use them for jam.
No cucumbers fo rme this year, I had half the seed left from last years and took a risk , they rotted. I mostly end up giving most of them away, I try to eat too much and get fed up with them. I did pull some large thinnings of a commercial variety of Little Gem lettuce, they seem to be doing well even with the heat.
I need to take up 2 rows of strawberry plants (3 year cycle), I always put in early carrots by mid July, if carrot fly don't get them they do well, but rain is non-existant now.
Very hot today, it was 31C perhaps hotter, too hot for me to garden, they say it will get hotter.
My new potatoes are only half filling too, making proper size but not all are filling. I didn't bother to water them, too much else need watering.
I picked a few French beans today to go with the cauliflower, won't have carrots for a while. They don't move much until it rains.