Soft fruit foraging

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Soft fruit foraging
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Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Wed Aug 07, 13 9:52 am Post subject:
Our rasps firstly didnt get enough water and then the few fruits dried up - poor, but looks good for brambles.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15600

Posted: Thu Aug 08, 13 5:53 am Post subject:
I think the rain came at about the right time for the raspberries. The blackberries look good too.

catbaffler

Joined: 31 Mar 2009
Posts: 937
Location: Barry

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 13 6:12 am Post subject: Where are all the sloes?
I went for a walk yesterday to check out foraging potential in my favourite place for blackberries, crab apples, sloes and wild plums. There were plenty of unripe blackberries and ripening apples but practically no sloes or plums at all. Has anyone else noticed this?

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15600

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 13 6:16 am Post subject:
I have seen a good crop of sloes in some places, but nothing in others. I haven't seen any mirabelles obvious at the moment; the best one round here looked completely fruitless, which is sad. Must have been the cold spring. Either the flowers got frosted or there weren't enough insects around to pollinate them.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 13 6:54 am Post subject:
My long hedge which is usually loaded has not one single bullace. Sloes are patchy.

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 13 7:21 am Post subject:
I've only found one shrub with sloes and we have no plums or damsons this year.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 13 8:44 am Post subject:

Nicky Colour it green wrote:

we've abandoned the raspberries now as a lot of the fruit is rotting in the warm/wet weather and the wasps are in - been a great year for them and we have a raspberry mountain in the freezer

some yellow raspberries are growing wild near here - and are so sweet and lovely I am thinking of getting some of them too

Yellow raspberries are fabulous - the other advantage, aside from the taste, is that the birds seem to ignore them. I think the colour confuses them - they don't think they are ripe. I think our variety is All Gold. It spreads like mad. I keep on having to dig sections out!

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15600

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 13 8:47 am Post subject:
I was a bit worried about them in the woods, but as raspberries won't tolerate serious competition, I think I can leave the brambles to take care of them.

thingamajig

Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 27
Location: Bucks

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 13 7:40 pm Post subject:
I found some wild raspberrys while in the woods today looking for mushrooms,I didn't pick them as I didn't have a container.There weren't that many and they were very small,is the season nearly over for them? Also the blackberrys looked tiny and very sparse,not a good sign at all,I know its too early for them but will they get bigger or is it a bad sign? Thanks.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Fri Aug 09, 13 7:45 pm Post subject:
No sign of any ripening blackberries here yet, but I was heartened by the quantities. And they'll be swelling with this recent rain.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15600

Posted: Sat Aug 10, 13 7:22 am Post subject:

Wild raspberries are a lot smaller than cultivated ones, and you won't get as many on a stem either. It depends on how many stems there are in one place. We have good patches in a few places in the woods, and in others you can walk along past the raspberries and pick only a few. You should have a bit of time left in the raspberry season I would think.

The blackberries may be small at the moment. We have plenty coming along though, so if they are sparse, you may not get a good crop where you are. Are there still flowers, because they may develop to fruit later?

thingamajig

Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 27
Location: Bucks

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 13 11:33 am Post subject:

Mistress Rose wrote:

Thanks for the reply
I wont be going back to the woods for a fortnight as these patches are where I used to live, so a long drive.I will have a better look then,I don't remember seeing any flowering.

Hedgerow

Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Posts: 5
Location: Dorset

Posted: Sun Aug 11, 13 8:27 pm Post subject:

It's been good for wild gooseberries, cherries, red currants and strawberries so far. There are good numbers of damsons, crab apples, sloes and sea buckthorn (the business!) plus hazelnuts and walnuts on route. Some of the sloes were starting to gain some colour today. I've eaten the odd blackberry too. I am still to see any wild raspberries yet this year - not been to the right spots. I also need to keep an eye on some fantastic cherry plums (red, yellow and purple) to see how they are progressing. Without slowing down I can see when they are starting to fall off the trees on to a pavement underneath. We need a good year after the disappointment of last.

Hedgerow
https://www.hedgerow-harvest.com

Duane Dibbley

Joined: 12 Nov 2009
Posts: 95
Location: Between Newbury and Andover

Posted: Mon Aug 12, 13 7:59 am Post subject:
Blackberries are starting to ripen here now and there seems to be a very good crop. Cherry plums are very disappointing this year....trees that were loaded in 2011 hardly have any fruit despite a poor year last year. There seem to be loads of Hazelnuts as well.....just need to get to them before the squirrels.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15600

Posted: Tue Aug 13, 13 7:39 am Post subject:
Although the numbers will be building up because it will be a good year this year, haven't seen so many squirrels in the woods lately. Think the wet summer and cold winter did for a lot of them.

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