Feeling Fruity!

Doing quite well with fruit so far this year

The pear tree in my garden looks like it's dying now, only a handful of pears on it, all the leaves on one side have turned yellow and curled.

The small cooking apple tree at home isn't producing this year, nor are the apple and pear trees on the allotment. Next door neighbour says we can have the cooking apples off his tree this year - we'll peel, slice and freeze as much as we can, crumbles all year round!

The plum tree at home is doing ok - 15 plums today - maybe enough for a small plum crumble for me and my girlfriend. Normally get them too late cos they ripen very quickly then get attacked by wasps. Must remember to prune it this winter. Have 2 plum trees on the allotment - didn't see plums last time I was there, but will check again tomorrow. Have found a couple of plum trees down our street - planted by the council in the grass verges - more freebies!

Loganberries doing ok - only had a dozen or so each week from the canes that grew last year, but loads of new canes have grown so should get loads next year.

Raspberries on allotment are poor, but home canes are growing like mad. It's almost all new growth this year, so will fruit next year. The dogs chewed through most of the canes that grew last year, but had a few good sized raspberries from the 3 canes that survived.

Rhubarb is doing really well - got 1 crown doing well in the ground, another 5 in buckets (4 from Su), and all growing well - will plant the crowns out properly over the winter.

Neighbour on allotment gave us some grape vines earlier this year - I planted them around Feb/March - they're growing well, not going to get fruit just yet tho.

Strawberries - all the plants seemed to dry up in the recent heatwave, no new strawberries.

Inability to keep weeds under control means parts of the garden are overrun with blackberry brambles. Will pick the blackberries before cutting the whole lot back and trying to kill it all off. Or might keep a couple of canes somewhere they won't get in the way!

Blueberry plants given to me a couple of months back have all died - they were left indoors too long, waiting for a friend to collect, which she changed her mind about, and they just didn't recover. Might get some more another time.

And also got a redcurrant bush, blackcurrant bush and 2 gooseberry bushes on the allotment, plus 3 gooseberry bushes at home, all finished fruiting recently, all picked and frozen.

And elderberries growing like mad at the bottom of the garden - hopefully will get enough to make some wine or something!