Soft fruits



Today I ate the tastiest gooseberry I've ever tasted, straight from the bush.
The raspberries aren't bad either.

Sunday 15th July 2012
A fine day.

I've not talked much about the soft fruit patch so far. That's because the young bushes and canes were put in last year and are only just beginning to yield any bounty.

It'll be another year before we see a significant harvest, so for the moment I tend to just leave everything to set it's roots and mature. Every now and again I venture in to pull the weeds.



Sue's early morning harvest.

But this area potentially has our most valuable harvest. Crops such as gooseberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, strawberries and blueberries are seemingly worth their weight in gold these days. In fact, if we didn't grow them they'd remain rarely tasted luxuries. I can't even remember the last time I saw gooseberries for sale. As for honeyberries, chokeberries, wineberries, tayberries and mulberries!

My soft fruits had a very difficult start, with the severest of winters followed by an 18 month drought, with a night of minus 16 in their second winter. The currants and gooseberries have withstood all that has been thrown at them, whereas only a few of the original raspberries and strawberries came through. But four months of almost constant rain has been more to their liking.

Now, at last, I can pluck the occasional dew-covered fruit on my early morning strolls, each a veritable jewel bursting with flavour. Sue harvests a little of each fruit a couple of times a week and freezes them on open trays. Already our freezer contents are beginning to look more opulent.

Next year we'll be ready for jams, sorbets, ice cream, tarts, crumbles, jellies and even wines.

Birding Stop Press

Probable Hudsonian Godwit, Cheshire 10am - 3.30pm.

Last one in Britain - 1988, Aberdeenshire for 1 day.

Total British records ever - 2!

Tomorrow I shall be waiting on tenterhooks for news. If anyone can show it definitely was one, I'll go overnight and hope it reappears in the morning.

All else is on hold!

Aurora Borealis Alert

The Northern Lights could, potentially, be visible anywhere in Britain tonight.

To see this spectacular sky show is one of my greatest ambitions in life, so with this alert and what looks to be a clear night, I'll be staying up late tonight. Photos (?) in the morning.