We’ve had a great year so far for fruit, loads of strawberries and the best crop ever from our cherry tree. The last couple of years we’ve had a few cherries which we’ve shared with the birds, usually an 80:20 split in their favour. This year we’ve netted it in time and the tree has performed brilliantly.
I was singing ‘life is just a bowl of cherries’ as I picked them. It’s strange, I hadn’t realised it was originally sung by Rudy Vallee in 1931. Honestly, that’s way before my time. Goodness knows how that got into my head!
There are few things in life as sweet as a cherry from the tree and cherry jam is an absolute joy. The excess strawberries have been frozen to turn into my second favourite jam in a few weeks.
My redcurrants however have ended up as pigeon food. I looked at them reddening up and thought ‘better net those before the birds have them’. Couple of days later, I realised it was too late. Not a currant to be seen.
My neighbour (I think plot 30) has a lovely crop of blackcurrants which he seems to be ignoring. It’s really tempting to harvest them for him, but I shall resist. Some crimes are OK like bank robbing but pinching off an allotment is the lowest of the low.
If I see him I’ll ask if he wants them and offer some jam. You can make an interesting Christmas liqueur by filling a jar or bottle with blackcurrants – very lightly crushed – and topping up with brandy or, I’m told, vodka but I’ll offer some jam.
It rained a bit today but the greenhouse still needed watering so headed down late afternoon. Suddenly realised I’d a couple of cucumbers in the small greenhouse so they went into the swag bag along with some courgettes.
Watering
Despite the rain, the soil is very dry still. Well the hosepipe ban starts on Friday so it’s still legal. Got the sprinkler going on plot 29 and gave the potatoes a good drink and then moved onto plot 5 where the sweetcorn, pumpkins and brassicas got a drink as well.
Using a sprinkler isn’t the most efficient use of water but I control the spray so it goes where it’s needed and very little is wasted. Ideally I’d use a soaker hose buried just under the surface.
Garlic Harvest
Next job was to harvest the garlic. It’s always worrying. The foliage might look good but what’s below? Something or nothing? Well four of them were ‘nothing’ – very small mouldy bulbs. The rest ranged from pretty good to fantastic.
Because I was way behind, I’d started them off in January in pots, planting out in mid-March. Better late than on-time. We’ve enough garlic to last a year from 4 bulbs. Of course, the weather has been on our side this year.
The shallots have done well so they’ll be up next to sit on the drying frame. Some are bigger than onions but my onions haven’t done so well, some are smaller than shallots.
I was going to say you can’t win with everything, every year but maybe one year I will.
I noticed the cherries again this year there are lots of them growing in gardens around hear and many of them get passed by many but not all the birds, pigeons love them, however there are lots of students and overseas persons in my area and they pick them, as do I. But I did notice a new cherry tree on the way to getting the bus before going to my allotment plot and the cherries on this one have turned the darkest purple I have ever seen on cherries, I agree jam sounds great, as does Kirsch. I suspect these will go unpicked very tempted to knock on their door and ask the question, as you suggested offering some jam in return.
Have just harvested what are my first crops this year, a small amount of strawberries not bad as they were inherited from a plot next door to mine and only transplanted less than two months ago. Yes I know should be stopping them fruiting in first year, they are sending out lots of runners and seem to have taken.
Other items inherited, potatoes which are starting to die back so they should be ready for harvesting, in the next week will be picking my first radishes, only 3 weeks after planting seeds direct in soil. Have lots of beetroot salad to collect as well as part of the thinning process, however a word of warning, the leaves of beetroot are like rhubarb (another inherited item) they contain oxalic acid, now did I see that on River Cottage the other day or Nigel Slater? They should be taken in moderation if an upset stomach is to be avoided, however research is showing that the actual beetroot in the form of juice c250mL per day is very effective at lowering blood cholesterol.
I have picked my blackcurrants, was surprised just how many varieties of spider were living in there with the fruit, not enough to turn into jam but will make a great apple/blackcurrant pie or crumble. The lettuces I have germinated will be ready for harvesting over the coming week or so, the peas that I put in some 4 weeks ago are nearly as tall as my colleagues on the next plot and they transplanted theirs, you never can tell. Can not wait to taste those, the strawberries have been consumed reminded me of the wild strawberries I just to pick out of my friends garden borders as a child.
Like yourself being in the NW of England the hosepipe ban affects me directly as well, using hose pipes is frowned upon on our allotment site, but you can fill as many large containers or collect as much rain water as you like. The compost heap is digesting nicely, the first crop of Comfrey tea is ready for diluting and feeding the tomatoes. Inherited from the person who had the site before me what is basically a brew your own plastic container thingy, someone put a hole in the bottom and a cloth. I mounted it on some breeze blocks with a seed tray lid underneath to collect liquid.
The comfrey came off a abandoned plot at the back of our site, however the comfrey roots I have given are now well and truly rooted circa 8″ off the surface and should gather a pace.
The weekend before last I managed to get a hose pipe which has now filled my 1000 gallon container which cuts the distance I have to travel to water the crops. Next plan is to finish digging overgrown plot over to get it into cultivation and to put in a watering system.
All in all it is great fun and boy does it taste so much better than the garbage the shops sell.
Oh and final thought for the day United Utilities (or Futilities in this case) have had there profits slashed in our house we had a water meter fitted in January and we now save 50% on our household bill.
Hi i wondered what you would use to make watering easier /more efficient. We have very dry sandy soil and the water seems to pool on top and not go to the roots. so out of 4 potato plants we have only had a pound and a half of potatoes.
Best answer is slowly watering – soaker hoses are great and can be low pressure fed from water butts.
Use blackcurrants to make Cassis – http://www.mytinyplot.co.uk has a really good recipe which I used to make some a couple of yars ago. Much better than shop bought Cassis – lovely on its own, mixed with wine to make Kir, or in Champagne to make Kir Royale.
With regard to the cherries; this year was a super bumper crop too many even for the birds, my 87 year old french neighbour informed me that in all his live, he is a retired local farmer, he has never seen such a crop. every tree was the same.
The first pickings were superb, jam, cloufoutis and a stack in the freezer, there still remained a huge amount on the trees so after a few days we picked again but by then it was too late. The cherries looked fine but every one contained a little white worm. So we now have inedible cherries falling every where!!