Garden Centre

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Garden goodies

Look at that picture. That entire bonanza came from a couple of currant bushes, three raspberry canes and a tayberry that is as vicious as a starving vampire and keeps trying to take over the garden! The fruit is about to be open frozen to use in the winter.

I already have a full bag of raspberries, another of blackberries and half a bag of tayberries – and we’ve been eating as much as we freeze.

Soft fruit has to be one of the best investments for the small garden. The plants need little or no looking after: a bit of pruning, a bit of checking for disease, lots of harvesting and they like poor and starved soil: ours grow around the compost bin and near the barbecue in an area where nothing else but nasturtiums could possibly survive. They last a loooong time: I have a friend with a twenty year old blackcurrant bush, although I think that’s pushing the margins – fruit bushes will easily last a decade on minimum maintenance though. Finally, soft fruit is a luxury item to buy, but when it arrives in such abundance you can be totally relaxed about slapping it into pies and crumbles, making ice-cream, summer puddings and jellies and jams.

Labels: garden fruit, soft fruit

The All Seasons Gardener at 9:00 AM

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