Last week soft fruit dominated our harvests. We continued to harvest strawberries and our Glen Ample raspberries started to ripen. The raspberry canes were only planted last year and this is their first productive year. The canes are producing lots of fruit but the berries seem a bit smaller than usual.
We picked a few gooseberries as a test but I think that they need to be left a little longer to sweeten. Maybe last week's sunshine will have done the trick.
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Our end of week harvest included more fruit with alpine strawberries, blackcurrants and a sprinkling of Glencoe - the purple raspberry, added to the strawberries. Like the raspberries the blackcurrants are smaller than usual. Maybe the lack if rain has caused the fruit not to swell as much.
We picked more cabbage - Duncan - and calabrese - Marathon. This year, despite our best efforts slugs are a major problem in the brassica beds, devastating some plants completely.
We dug our first root of Foremost potatoes, the tops of which are now dying back
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Looking good. I've harvested my first potatoes too, they were scrummy.
ReplyDeleteThat describes them perfectly. Jo
DeleteOh Sue you have lots & lots to harvest! I think we shall be harvesting the first of our potatoes this weekend broad beans too fingers crossed. I was rather late planting out both, might be a busy weekend as I'm hoping my gooseberries will be sweet enough to pick x
ReplyDeleteWe are late planters too, Jo
DeleteOh - those berries look delicious! We just planted several canes this year (as well as blackberry canes). I can't wait until next year to get a taste.
ReplyDeleteThose are dwarf broad beans! I wonder how they will do once the pods mature. How do you support your taller planting? They appear fairly straight, but I don't see any stakes.
We don't support them at all, Margaret, They are battered by the wind but have to look after themselves,
DeleteLovely harvests. Those berries look so good. I didn't harvest much fruit this last week. Though I think the pink currants are about ready so I'll get those. And maybe the gooseberries.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing the pink currants and hearing how they taste, Daphne
DeleteI love gooseberry too Sue.Do you make jam of them? I also have tall beans but they aren't in bloom yet. Happy harvest!
ReplyDeleteWe don't make jam Nadezda as I don't like using so much sugar. We make a compote and freeze it,
DeleteMy two varieties of Broad Bean grew to almost exactly the same height - about 5 feet. I'm glad I staked them, because they would have been a real mess if I hadn't. I think your Robin Hood ones might just get away without support, but I think most types of BB need some help. If they flop over or lie flat the flowers are less accessible to pollinating bees. I reckon it will be a poor year generally for soft fruit (and soft veg!) because of the very dry Spring. (And the Summer is heading the same way!)
ReplyDeleteOur 'normal' broad beans don''t get to 5 feet, Mark. We never stake then and they don't flop. This year they have been subjected to really strong winds for long periods, maybe we plant them closer than you do.
DeleteTried Robin Hood beans for the first time this year too - they remained very dwarf as did the pods so the crop was not huge, but they were a good green colour. Like most dwarf varieties of bean, the stems tend to grow as a rosette close to the ground and staking or supports would have been tricky (although I don't usually bother no matter the height either). Sadly they were devastated by blackfly and I pulled them up this very morning !
ReplyDeleteThat is a shame SabdD. I shouldn't say this as I am tempting fate but we never seem to suffer blackfly on broad beans. They prefer the campanula in the garden.
DeleteOoh, lovely fruits! I can't seem to get raspberries to produce here!
ReplyDeleteWe did lose one whole row of raspberries a couiple of years ago, Susie. We think it was down to the ground being too wet
DeleteThis post makes me hungry! I plan to start onions in autumn this year. It worked for my garlic last year and my scallions, too.
ReplyDeleteWe try to get the sets in in September, Daisy so that they get some growing time before the wintery weather.
DeleteGosh, your soft fruit has my mouth gaping open....my raspberries are only just flowering, the rest of the soft fruit is an utter failure! I just love your harvests! I slap my hand everytime I see them and promise myself that one day I shall do better!xxx
ReplyDeleteWe have some later raspberries too, Dina
DeleteI'm sorry to hear slugs have decimated your brassicas but somewhat relieved that "it's not just me" - the same thing is happening here and it is thoroughly demoralising for this veggie novice :-(
ReplyDeleteBizarrely the worst place for slugs is where we have used nematodes, Jayne
DeleteNice lot of harvests sue. We seem to have had a lot of slugs too and I've started again for the zillionth time on my brassicas. I didn't get round to staking my autumn-sown BB and they were ok apart from a bit of flopping at the end when the pods were heavy, despite the winds as well. Will soon be harvesting the spring-sown beans - Eleanora Express.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why there are so many slugs Lou, lack of hedgehogs?
DeleteYeh, I don't think we have any hedge hogs on the allotment site at the moment, there was one a few years back. Plenty of habitat for them round there though. We didn't have a particularly bad winter here in Norwich so I reckon lots of slugs n eggs made it through the winter.
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