Harvest time

[bernie66]

Cheers,
I'm going to try overwintering this year as i have never managed to be self sufficient in onions. I've got circa 300 red baron (too many going to seed and thus won't store) and sturon which are looking fine but under threat of rust which has jumped from the garlic to the Egyptian walking onions and is now threatening the main crop.

 

[British Red]

More alliums today...about 800 shallots


Shallot harvest by British Red, on Flickr



Thoroughly bored with preserving strawberries


Strawberry preserves by British Red, on Flickr


50 pounds frozen
50 pounds dehydrated
20 pounds of strawberry jam
10 pounds of strawberry rhubarb pie filling
20 pounds of canned strawberries
10 pounds of syrup

Added a cubic yard of compost to the emptied beds ready for planting Autumn / Winter crops

 

[DanielCoffey]

I was wondering how folks dealt with a surplus of blackcurrants.

Once you have reached your quota for freezer space and jam, does anyone dehydrate the rest and if so how do they compare with shop-bought dried currants?

 

[British Red]

Never tried dehydrating, they make a fantastic wine though...very like port.

 

[tommy the cat]

Port....hmmmn

 

[Mesquite]

Not long before the chili harvest starts Hugh

 

[milius2]

Where do you steal the time needed to do all this????????????????????? I want to break this bank.

 

[British Red]

Not long before the chili harvest starts Hugh

Had the first ripe Fresno this week. Apache and Cayenne have loads of fruit on but flowers just starting on the Lemon Drops?

 

[British Red]

BB made up a dozen pints of tomato and chilli soup today given the Time are coming in fast

Tomato Soup by British Red, on Flickr

I'm delighted that the cherry trees we planted are getting large enough to crop.


Cherries by British Red, on Flickr


This variety is called sweetheart and it tastes even better than it looks!

 

[Robson Valley]

The dried currants that you buy in the store are probably dried Corinthian grapes, not real currants at all.
I harvest about 15lbs/7kg black currants mid August each year. Make jam. Never tire of the taste!
I've made a few peach & b. currant fruit pies = OK, but don't fog my goggles.

Just home from a trip with 13 x 800g bags of washed, cleaned and frozen Saskatoon/Service berries (Amelanchier alnifolia)
They are an iconic fruit pie treat from the Canadian prairies. What I pick (5lbs/hr) here in BC is very much the same taste.

 

[Laurentius]

I was wondering how folks dealt with a surplus of blackcurrants.

Once you have reached your quota for freezer space and jam, does anyone dehydrate the rest and if so how do they compare with shop-bought dried currants?

At this moment I have two gallons of black currant brew on the go. I am not fermenting it to full wine strength, more like a fruit cider. This is the reason I have been growing black currants, and it is the first year since I took on my allotment and planted them that I have had a decent enough crop for this. I remember that we used to have blackcurrants in the garden when I was young and my dad used to ferment them.

 

[British Red]

I have a couple of Saskatoon bushes. Can't get them to fruit though

 

[bigbear]

Planted two blackcurrant bushes last year, they did nothing due I gues to the shock of being transplanted, but had a nice harvest this year. Frozen them so we can have a couple of really nice puddings in the depths of winter to remind us of summer.
Ideally would have more but there just is not the space. Ditto gooseberries.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Do you find it mandatory to net your soft fruit to protect it from the birds? I was wondering if planting even more of them and "sharing" was a viable strategy or if I would just end up with more, fatter birds?

I am not thinking of hundreds of bushes, of course... more like planting a dozen instead of three. Given enough space I thought the cost of the extra bushes may offset the cost of the cages.

 

[British Red]

I have to net. I have, for example, 30 gooseberry bushes. The birds can strip 30 bushes in an hour.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Ugh - that's a shame. OK, thanks for the tipoff.

 

[santaman2000]

The birds have been enjoying my tomatoes and peppers this year.

 

[British Red]

I caught a pigeon on my kohlrabi. I caught it with Eley no. 6 shot

 

[Laurentius]

I caught a pigeon on my kohlrabi. I caught it with Eley no. 6 shot

Ever since I saw a flock of pigeons flying off after they had devastated my kohl rabis, they are a crop I grow under netting. Alas we are not allowed to shoot anything on our allotments.

 

[British Red]

The figs are coming regularly now.

Figs by British Red, on Flickr


A warm for, straight off the tree is one of my wife's favourite things