Tuesday 6 August 2013

Summer watch: Blackberries and other fruit

News Flash: The first blackberries around the mead are ready and we are going to reap the benefits of that long wet spring - they are unbelievably juicy!

In other news, it looks like we're in for a decent crop of apples this year after last year's fiasco of a crop. Only a couple of the wild trees are any good for eating but the rest are either good for cooking or brewing. I haven't been to look at the plums yet (they're not strictly speaking on the mead so I might not tell you anyway!) but the peach tree looks promising, the sloes are ripening ridiculously early and the 'hips and the haws are shaping up nicely too. I don't know about the elderberries as my access is limited this year ("keep out" does mean don't go in and out too much and be discreet doesn't it?) but that should mean there's even more than usual as fewer people will have picked the flowers. In fact the only potential disappointments are the bullace (it never does well) and the wild redcurrants but its too early to be sure about those.

I'll get some pictures soon because I suspect most of you won't know the English names for some of these things.

Expect fewer posts over the next 8 weeks or so as I'll be busy preserving, bottling, wine making, ketchup, jam and chutney making and eating lots of pies and this blog is not the right place to go into depth about all that ;-)

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