mega fruit crop

[benjamin.oneill]

we were talking about it in snufkin's mushroom thread, but i thought i'd start a new one. from what i'd seen around home it was looking pretty good, but...

i then went just down the road to robertsbridge to see a friend on his farm (where i'm hopefully going to organise a meet for those interested, there's a thread in the social section) and his hedges were rammed!

i was especially shocked by the sheer quantity of sloes, whith chunks of hedgerow looking dusty blue from a distance with the smattering of fruit. looks like we'll have a serious crop of those and i'll have to find new things to do with them later this year.

the elderberries, some of them looking a little past it now, have also produced an absolute glutt. is everyone else in other parts as lucky as we are here?

Ben

also, any suggestions for the sloes? One thing I thought of was to dry the flesh off the stone to make an easily carried bannock seasoning..

 

[bushwacker bob]

Ther seems to be a glut of bullace as well.(same family as sloes(prunus))
Anyone know how to make fruit leather?

 

[Tony]

We went for a walk yesterday and there was loads of elderberries, some blackberries, sloe, rowan, beech mast is starting to drop at one place I know and there's some good fungi out already. I'll get out later for the berries. I'm just trying to find some good apple trees to go with it all.

 

[locum76]

in the lothians there has been a load of gluts this year so far, including:
wild cherries, wild raspberries, elderflower and brambles.

it also looks like there will be a bumper crop of:
hazelnuts, more brambles, rowanberries, haws, rosehips as well as conkers, beechnuts and ash keys (for those who are interested).

they dont use blackthorn in the hedges in my area very much so cant comment on sloes but i'll have a look in the bits where i know where they are. (won't quite be ready yet up here.)

the best and most surprising of the gluts was the wild cherry one.

 

[benjamin.oneill]

Ther seems to be a glut of bullace as well.(same family as sloes(prunus))
Anyone know how to make fruit leather?

no but they were a packed lunch staple in australia when i was a kid!

i picked a load of crab apples and rowan berries today and posted about my mushroom success in snufkins post.

the nuts/acords/masts are going great guns too but so are the squirrels!

Ben