-Or rather, a distinct absence thereof. Our little apple tree that gave some 30 apples last year have not produced a single one this year, possibly due to some late spring frost that killed off the blossoms. The pear tree, on the other hand, gave no fruit last year but produced 5 pears this year, only one of which got to stick around on the tree long enough to ripen – and then it fell to the ground and was inedible when got up to the garden last weekend.
You win some, you loose some, right? So here are the wins:
The French beans are beautiful, both the classic green ones and the purple ones. The yellow French beans never really got started, since the plants where eaten as soon as they emerged from the ground, and for some reason the other beans fared better, perhaps because of the marigolds that I sowed between the green and purple beans? I cannot know, of course, but I will definitely sow marigolds between my beans next year as well, just in case this was the determining factor.
The cherry tomatoes also did well, though I had to pick them all this weekend as there is little point in letting the green ones ripen, only to leave them to drop to the ground before the next time I have time to get up to the garden. I’ve eaten some of the red cherry tomatoes and preserved the rest by scolding them and putting them in a jar of oil with a touch of salt. And I love the fragrance of green tomatoes, so I’ve brought them back to Copenhagen and might try pickling them somehow. Maybe whole in a sweet vanilla-infused vinegar like my mother used to do? Or maybe as a jam of sorts.
The yellow mirabelle prunes are generally dull-tasting, but the ripe ones seemed to have already fallen to the ground (making for a few drunken bees and wasps on the lawn) with only sour, unripe fruit left on the tree, so I tried making a jelly of it. It turned out nice and clear and with just the right consistency, but the taste was just not very interesting – though bitter! – so I scrapped it and made a mental note to just consider this fruit ornamental in coming years.
I also got some weeding done, though mainly “large” weeding. There is a large perennial that is very invasive and self-seeds all over the place, so I’ve been ripping that out everywhere I could find it, throwing the plants in the compost and the roots in the trash. And another potentially invasive weed, the Himalayan Balsam, got the opposite treatment, with me trying to gather seeds from it so I can sow them in the spring; it grows to 2 meters and has very pretty flowers that supposedly attracts bees and butterflies, so I’m willing to overlook the fact that it will spread wherever it wants. (Also, it’s FUN to gather balsam seeds, since the seed pods “explode” when touched, sending the seeds flying all over the place so you really need to be careful if you want them to end up in your seed collection, rather than everywhere on the ground.)
The rudbeckias are blooming now, but I forgot to take a picture. Many of the rudbeckias that I brought from my mother’s garden last autumn died over the cold winter, but enough have survived and have established themselves that I think I can make an acceptable block of them in one of the borders.
In shopping news my spring bulbs have arrived! 250 mixed tulips and 500 mixed crocus… Now I just need to store them in a cool, dark place until I go up to the garden the next time, which will be in a few weeks.
I am often amazed that anyone can live by what they grow in a garden–each year is just so unpredictable. My sister’s family has apple, peach, apricot, and nectarine trees; some years she can’t keep up with the preserving, and some years they get nothing. Much less stressful to have the garden offer treats and bonuses instead. I’ll be interested to hear what you come up with for the green tomatoes.
It sounds like you had a wonderful, if brief, weekend in the garden–a good alternative, at any rate, to attending the meeting…
If I had more time in the garden I’m quite sure I could be self-sufficient with vegetables and fruit; it would be a matter of ensuring that you have a diversity of crops so if one fails there is another that can replace it.
And it was a lovely – if brief – weekend in the garden. The weather was perfect, and the squirrels frolicking, the rudbeckias blooming and the wasps hovering over the lawn in a drunken stupor all made it even better!
Its the highs and lows that make it all so exciting, hope you have better fortune next year with your fruit trees though. Talking of weeds, I just spotted the dreaded Japanese knotweed in my neighbours garden.
Time will tell, and fruit or no fruit they are pretty little trees so at least for this year I will just enjoy them as ornamental plants.
I hope you enjoyed the lovely weather this weekend; I just came back from Aberdeen yesterday and I think it was some of the best weather I’ve seen over there in a long time!
I think the wins are great. And those purple beans do look as amazing as you said, they must have been quite striking hanging on the plant
They are stunning, though it is such a shame that they loose their colour when they are cooked.
Balsam?! That is a weed over here growing along the river banks. I think it’s against the law to plant it (unless it’s a garden cultivar) like the Japanese Knotweed Alistair mentioned.
It has been a mixed year for fruit and veg. Soft fruit great. Orchard fruit not so good except for plums!
It will all be better next year ….. or different!
Hrm… I will need to look into the issues with the giant balsam, I see. After all, there are other showy, insect-attracting flowers that one can sow without risking the local natural habitats, so research is needed.
And next year will be GREAT! In one way or another, I’m sure.
Your produce looks good! And I think marigolds among the beans are a great idea. They do deter some pests, so maybe helped the beans, but in any case, they must have looked great, especially contrasting with the purple beans. I’m going to plant purple climbing beans here as soon as the frosts stop in a few weeks, and now thanks to you, I’ll plant marigolds among them!
The purple beans are definitely some of the prettiest plants I’ve sown this year, so go-go-go!
-And whether the marigolds helped the beans or not they certainly can’t have hurt them, and they did look very pretty between the two rows of climbers. (And I love their scent…)