Oh dear I hope I don't get hits from people who misunderstand the meaning of the title. My regular gardening readers will know that this is just another post about the progress of our fruit collection.
As well as having fruit on the plot we also have some fruit growing in the garden and in the garden greenhouse.
In the greenhouse we have the Lazarus fig that I posted about recently. The figs that it is carrying are swelling well and it looks as though we are in for our first real fig harvest.
So far no sign of the red spider mite that tends to plague both it and the Issai kiwi berry. Issai has plenty of flower buds but as yet they have to open.
It would be great to get some kiwi berries as I have no idea what they will be like. I'll need an insecticide that can be used on edibles and it seems that one using rapeseed oil
will be the one to use. Being a contact insecticide I also will avoid harming other insects. Anyone any experience of using it?
We have a grapevine in the garden greenhouse - Himrod - that has supplied us with a good harvest of sweet seedless green grapes for years. Other than severe pruning throughout the season - or it would take over the greenhouse - we don't do anything to help it's fruit production. I used to thin the grapes but don't bother any more as it was a neck aching task which resulted in tiny green immature grapes in unmentionable places. I'm not too concerned with beautifully shaped bunches of grapes, we just want tasty fruit.
will be the one to use. Being a contact insecticide I also will avoid harming other insects. Anyone any experience of using it?We have a grapevine in the garden greenhouse - Himrod - that has supplied us with a good harvest of sweet seedless green grapes for years. Other than severe pruning throughout the season - or it would take over the greenhouse - we don't do anything to help it's fruit production. I used to thin the grapes but don't bother any more as it was a neck aching task which resulted in tiny green immature grapes in unmentionable places. I'm not too concerned with beautifully shaped bunches of grapes, we just want tasty fruit.
I had high hopes for the nectarine that was smothered in blossom which I diligently hand pollinated but it was not to be. Next year we will try and take some preventative measures.
The apricot wasn't affected by the peach leaf curl and is looking healthy but without fruit.
The cherry tree is only just beating these three by having a couple of fruits.
I did say a couple!
These trees are all with the exception of the peach very young trees so this year I will forgive their fruitlessness.
These trees are all with the exception of the peach very young trees so this year I will forgive their fruitlessness.
Even younger is the apple tree Baya Marissa which I didn't expect to produce any fruit this yet. It's growing well so that is good news. It's not easy to get a good photo of it as it merges into the background.
Fairing better are the pear and apple trees that have a mind of their own and were once cordons that we thought we had chopped down. Behind the greenhouse they happily had other ideas and now regularly produce fruit.
Finally are the couple of troughs of strawberries - Finesses - that never made their way to the plot. Hopefully we will get a bowlful or two of berries from them.
Then there is the medlar which I have mentioned in an earlier post. It's a little too early to be able to tell how much fruit has set but knowing it's a fruit that we find challenging to use what are the odds that it will produce a bumper crop!
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What a shame about the peach and nectarine, the fig's looking good though. Fingers crossed for a first harvest.
ReplyDeleteIt is disappointing , Jo but next year we will try harder to keep peach leaf curl at bay.
DeleteLool your title will get lots of readings :D
ReplyDeleteI have to say peach is one of the fruits I hate to grow. You sneeze at them and they get sick so I'm not surprised they got leaf curl.
Other fruits look great :D
WE have had a few fruits each of the tow previous years and were hoping now it had 'grown-up' we would get more, Leanan
DeleteI wish I could get my pear and plum trees to set fruit! I have always had loads of cherries and sometimes get lucky with a few apples (this year's looking good) but pears and plums - nothing! I adore figs but don't have a fig tree - there's such a lot you can do with figs if you get a bumper harvest as well - I'm wondering now if I could get a dwarf tree for my balcony where it's sunny and sheltered! Enjoy your harvest!
ReplyDeleteOur plums seem to crop well every other year, Caro and this should according to that be a good year. The pears are a bit hot and miss but some of ours are only young so I'll forgive them for a year or two.
DeleteSue...so that is peach leaf curl heh! It looks very much like what some of my currant leaves look like. What a great post, so informative.
ReplyDeleteWhat you get on your currants will be blister aphid Bren. If you look on the back of the leaves you'll probably see lots of the little pests.
DeleteI think we will be trying a Himrod grapevine next year after reading about yours doing so well. Our dog has pruned our Fruit trees and Grape vines so he has been banned from our Kitchen Garden. Marion x
ReplyDeleteDogs do push their luck don't they Marion. Our vine is quite old now but we gave a cutting to a friend and it fruited fairly quickly.
DeleteShucks, I was expecting something really fruity! No not really....
ReplyDeleteMy own outdoor fig, much to my surprise has a dozen quite well developed fruits.
It IS fruity Roger! I guess we have about the same amount of figs.
DeleteMy Figs used to get infested with Red spider mite too Sue. They've been outside all winter but they're leafing up now so I think they may have survived.
ReplyDeleteKiwi berries? Oooooh I wonder what they're going to taste like, do let us know.
You officially have 2 more cherries them me lol. Both cherry trees were stuck outside all winter and although they're alive they won't be bearing any fruit.
The Victoria plum will do though :) 2 fruits - yup, my Plum tree is like your cherry tree this year. lol.
We're hoping for more cherries on the plot tree, Linda. As for what the kiwi berries taste like - I just hope we get to taste one!
DeleteYou certainly have a nice range of fruit plants. Looks like a reasonable fruit harvest for me except Plums and Raspberries this year.
ReplyDeleteOur raspberries still look as though i is mid winter, Rooko don't know what has happened to them but it looks like we need to buy new plants.
DeleteI am going to be doing some fruity posts soon but Like yours my apricot tree has no fruit. Otherwise they are doing quite nicely but I'll let you come over and read all about it when I have written up the post. Your fruit on the whole seems to be doing well. I guess anything is good after the disasters of last year!!
ReplyDeleteIt's strange Tanya - some fruit did well last year such as raspberries and gooseberries. This year the raspberries are sulking!
DeleteI do really enjoy watching the fruit developing.
ReplyDeleteSo do I Diana and anticipating eating it!
DeleteOh I love it all....but I say...Figs???? how impressive!xxxx
ReplyDeleteIt will be if we get to eat ant Snowbird
DeleteI have planted two peach trees this spring and they both (one more than the other) have leaf curl. I treated them twice, but one still sprouts new curled leaves, which I remove. The tree that is most affected, funnily, bears also the most fruit. There are at least 6 peaches in the making. I wonder if they will get to maturity and if they'll be edible, as I have sprayed them.
ReplyDeleteNo figs for me this year, as I just bought a fig tree and need a willing slave in my family to dig the hole next weekend. :)
What did you treat them with, Miss Bougie
DeleteI'm amazed by the sheer amount of fruit that you grow its brilliant. I'm especially impressed by the grapevine.
ReplyDeleteStrangely I think we rake the grapevine for granted, Annie maybe because we have had it so long!
DeleteSue, I'm from France, so the names of our products are different to yours. It's called "bouillie bordelaise", a powder you mix with water and then spray on the plant. The ingredients are as follows:
ReplyDeleteBordeaux mix (I don't think that's what you call it in the UK....reminds me of a mixed drink :)) - a combination of copper sulphate and hydrated lime, this powder (or spray) acts as a fungicide with insecticidal and insect repellant properties.
You also spray it on tomato plants in case of mildew (similar to potato blight?).
We do have Bordeaux mix, Miss Bougie thank you for that
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