For the first day of the new year my true love gave to me 9.5kg of brambleberries......
The advantages of getting out into the garden at 7:30am!! So after a morning of mulching in the garden, a trip to the farmer's market and a celebratory brunch of french toast with bacon and maple syrup at a local cafe, I spent much of the rest of today making brambleberry jam and brambleberry jelly. 18 jars later I STILL have about 2kg to deal with tomorrow. So far we've picked 21 kg and there are still more to come! Brambleberries certainly fruit better in the second year (they had a radical haircut mid 2009 and we only got about 6kg from them last year) so I think we might do the same this year and have a smaller brambleberry year next year. We will certainly have enough to freeze a good few kilos.
I also took the opportunity to take a few garden snaps so you can see how things are progressing. I'm amazed to see so much green in January.
The tomato beds have new higher hoop frames with shadecloth - the higher hoops do make it much easier to work in the bed. The tomatoes have started fruiting as well.
Oca, yacon, peas and beans and the peach tree. Peppers, chilli, eggplant, pumpkin and courgette...and some rogue potatoes!
HURRAH!! There are pumpkins! I really want to end the season with more than 6 this year. These are the Red Kuri variety that grow to 1.5-2kg - a perfect size for 2 people - and they keep well.
Seed pod on the nigella
On the harvest front for this season (starting Dec 10) we have
- 21 kg brambleberries
- 8.4kg redcurrants (made into vinegar, jelly and some frozen for summer puddings)
- 1.8kg blackcurrants (made into jelly)
- 1.1kg boysenberries
- 200g raspberry (just starting)
- 220g loganberries
- 1.5kg runner beans
- plus sugar snap and snow peas and wild rocket
I am looking forward to some tasty home grown tomatoes in a few weeks though!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy 2011.
9 comments:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
I am so envious of your berry harvests! I went to my girlfriends Mother's house last week and managed to polish off all the fruit she had left on her huge patch of raspberry canes (as well as a 1kg punnet sitting on the kitchen bench) They were so delicious! And I am so naughty!
Those berries look amazing! Pretty sure that seed pod is Nigella (Love in a Mist) not german chamomile though?
@EM - you're right of course - thanks!
@Phoebe - naughty, but bet it was fun :-)
@ Outback - same to you too!
Greetings from Canada. I love your photos the berries look so delicious. We are covered with a blanket of snow so we are reduced to looking at other countries produce. I would love to have some fresh not my frozen berries right now.
Hi Buttons - thanks for stopping by. I'd love to visit Canada one day
enviable harvest. those look just like what we call blackberries. always wondered what a brambleberry was!
Oh, those berries! We had about that much too this year after the torturous tying up of all the canes in winter. Came spring, the branches were loaded! with luscious fruit, first time ever.
Then little bugs (fruit flies?) moved in and all were infected. It was heart-breaking to see all that fruit going to waste.
Next year we will cover it all after the bees leave.
Love your blog, I will have to come back, there seems to be many good advice here. Thanks.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Elisabeth - bad news about your berries though...
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