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Soft Fruit Harvest.
With the long dry spell I
thought my Early Raspberries were going to be no use. They looked very
hard, small and dry until we had a bit of rain at the start of July and
then suddenly they swelled and turned colour. I am delighted to say that
I have been able to pick several Punnets of lovely, ripe, juicy fruits
already with the prospect of more to come for a week, or two, until the
“Lates,” take over and replace them.
I didn’t realise, but my Black Raspberries must also be “Earlies,”
because I have been carefully picking those as well. I say carefully
picking, because the Thorns on the tall, arching, canes, are every bit
as vicious as those on some of the Black Berries that they must be
related to. The ordinary “Early Raspberries,” on the other hand are
Thornless and quite pleasant to pick. Like the “Early,” red Raspberries
though, the Canes on the Black Raspberries need tying in to restrain
them, or else they will flop everywhere. Admittedly, the berries are on
the small side in the same way that Alpine Strawberries are smaller than
regular Strawberries, but they are tasty and give a different colour to
a fruit salad.
My 2 Thornless Blackberries are flowering nicely at the time of writing
this, but the fruit will be a little while yet as they will not be ready
until nearer to the Autumn. However, I also appear to have what appears
to be an “Early,” Thorned Blackberry. Last year I decided to remove all
of the Thorned bushes that I had, especially the big one that was by my
Compost Heap and making a nuisance of itself with its vicious thorns.
However, I had recently planted a very small, thorny variety called
Karaka Black in an “out of the way spot,” and decided to leave it in.
Now that it has grown a bit, and started to fruit, I am pleased that it
is there. The Blackberry has been covered with enormous, long, juicy
berries that are a delight to eat. I have said it before and this just
proves it, different varieties of fruit will fruit at different times.
Often this is different to the traditional fruiting times, so it does
pay to look carefully at labels before buying. You can very easily
spread out harvesting by careful selection of certain varieties.
Having said that no sooner had I got into picking my Raspberries and
Blackberry, but one of my Black Currant bushes was ready, along with the
Red Currants, and the Gooseberries on my Red Gooseberry, were turning a
rich red and starting to soften. I am sure that there is normally a
short interval between all of the different things ripening, but
everything seems to be a bit mixed up this year with some things holding
back and others seeming to be ready a bit earlier than normal.
The Figs are growing and swelling on my different trees, but they
definitely will be a few weeks yet as September is the usual time for
picking. Last Winter I planted a couple of different varieties that I
had grown from Cuttings. One, Ice Crystal, has, as its name suggests,
large, fancy leaves that are reminiscent of an Ice Crystal and it is
only an ornamental variety, but the variegated tree “Panachee,” is
supposed to have edible Figs on it, although, I was never able to pick
any in the past, from its parent tree, that was in my mothers garden.
Elsewhere my large Aronia bush is covered with Berries that are still
very unripe, but I guess they will not be too long now and I will have
to wait for several years yet before I will be able to pick from my,
still small, Strawberry Tree, or Arbutus Unedo.
A few weeks ago the first of my soft fruit bushes to produce ripe
Berries was my Honey Berry on which I was delighted to see masses of
little, dark, but ripe berries. However, before I could pick them the
Black Bird had the lot!
The tiny Mulberry Tree that I bought last Winter was early to fruit as
well, because it produced a few tasty, ripe berries, a couple of weeks
ago, so I will expect more from that next year. Hopefully, I will be
able plant it in the ground this coming Winter, in the spot where I am
going to remove the Green Gage from and then the Mulberry should romp
away.
Probably the last of the Soft Fruit will come right at the end of the
season from my Cape Gooseberries and I may even be picking the
yellowy/orange, tangy, little berries right up until Christmas, as
indeed I have in the past.
It is getting a bit late to be picking my Rhubarb, but one of the TV
Gardeners had an idea to extend harvesting time a little by stripping
off all of the older, tougher leaves and stems from the plants leaving
just the Crowns and then encourage new growth by feeding them well. If
the Plants aren’t fed, this exercise will drain the plants of all of
their energy as most varieties should now be building up reserves for
next year. However it will still only produce a Flush of new leaves and
stems before they quickly start to go “Tough,” and “Woody again.”
Apart from my different Fruit Bushes that produce what is called “Soft
Fruit,” I have several different Vines that in theory should also
produce “Soft Fruit.” Apart from the obvious Grape Vines that many
people grow, I have 2 Kiwi Vines that should yield those tangy, soft and
green fleshed fruits. Some varieties need 2 plants for pollination, but
“Jenny,” one of the more common ones, is self fertile. The smaller
fruiting “Issai,” that I have as well, is also supposed to be Self
Fertile, but up until now I have not had any fruit from either Vine.
When I planted my Sausage, or Chocolate Vine, (Akebia Quinata,) I didn’t
realise that that was supposed to have two plants to give better fruit
production, so although I get loads of flowers I haven’t had any fruit
from that either.
On the other hand my Schisandra Chinensis, or Magnolia Vine also
commonly called the “Five Flavour Berry,” as it is claimed that the
fruits exhibit all five of the taste characteristics; - Sweet, Sour,
Salty, Bitter and Spicy, was covered in berries the other year, but as
with the Aronia, the birds beat me to them ! !
I also have a little row of Cinnamon vines that look very good with
their new supports and new path running in front of them. The Latin name
for them is Dioscorea Batatas, but as with many plants their name
appears to have been changed and they are often called Apios Americanum.
The common name of Cinnamon Vine comes from the strong scent of Cinnamon
that is given off by their flowers. However, it is not berries they
produce, but it is their large tuber that grows in the ground which is
the edible part of the plant. It takes a few years to develop to a
harvestable size here in the UK, but in its country of origin it grows
much quicker. The unfortunate thing about the tuber though, is that,
large as it is, it grows straight down making it difficult to harvest
bearing in mind that you could easily be digging down a couple of feet,
or more to get it out. The flowers on the common variety are White, but
they do come in different colours with other varieties. It has glossy
heart shaped leaves that along with the flowers make this an interesting
vine to grow regardless of whether you harvest the vines tuber, or not.
The vine can be invasive in warmer climates as it produces small, ball
shaped, tubules on its stems that will germinate in the right conditions
when they fall to the ground. Here in the UK though, it is too cold for
them to survive outside and they need greenhouse conditions if you are
going to propagate them. Although, the cold winters will take the top
growth, the tubers themselves will survive and when conditions are right
in late Spring, they will re-shoot just like any herbaceous plant.
 
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