Now that they've been undisturbed for 12 months and their roots have been able to stretch out, I'm excited at the first signs of an actual crop of berries! Admittedly, it's a small crop still but it hints at wonderful things to come when all the bushes mature. My hastily bought red currants which I'd shoved in under our bedroom windows within weeks of moving in, sulked all last summer until I finally moved them somewhere where they get a couple of hours sunshine all year round. Much to my delight they have produced a whole ramekin full of luscious red berries... despite the aforementioned neglect that I am famous for. Hopefully, with my new resolution to prune and fertilise all my fruit producers correctly all year round, the currants will produce an even better crop next year.
The strawberries are once again disappointing. Between my haphazard watering and feeding and the lack of sunshine hours in our little jungle, strawberries just don't fulfill their promise. However, my new favourite fruit ever is the alpine strawberry which grows and produces, even under trees, has a small steady crop all year round and has tiny little berries that pack an enormous taste punch! With visitors coming from overseas soon, I'm resisting the urge to graze as I work and instead I'm picking 3 or 4 of the delicious berries off my mature plants each day (I have also bought a dozen new plants off TradeMe which are growing like the clappers and will hopefully start producing this summer too) and chucking them into a tub in the freezer to have with icecream when our visitors arrive.
One of my passionfruit vines has not only survived (a previously unheard of occurrence) but is also the proud parent of 2 flowers at the moment! I don't dare have high hopes of a couple of actual passionfruits but I'm hoping that this might be a sign that my black thumbs might be becoming just slightly tinged with green? I've been trying to grow vines for years and years to capture some of the tastes of home. Back in Malawi and Zimbabwe where I grew up the vines grow like weeds and can take over an entire garden if they're not watched carefully.
Ah... there's just no better feeling than eating something you know you grew!
If anyone has any $$ saving advice for growing fruit, I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to grow lush fruits but am increasingly realising that fertiliser, etc, is darned expensive, especially if you've got a reasonable size plot.
Berries are one of the most exciting things you can grow I think! I've got strawberries which are doing well (in the glasshouse where they get a lot of sun), blueberries, and a boysenberry bush which I was thrilled to pick the first couple of berries off recently.
ReplyDeleteThis year I've been using only my own fertiliser made from soaking comfrey leaves in water. I also sprinkle a bit of wood ash from my pellet fire, and apply liberal amounts of homemade compost to the soil, as well as a good handful of dried sheep pellets when planting out.
So far so good, I think the litmus test will be my tomatoes as I've used bought fertiliser on them in previous years.
Merry Christmas, and happy gardening in the new year :)
Thanks Ruth. I planted some comfrey in a wild corner of the garden so hopefully will be able to start making some liquid fertiliser eventually. I'm scouring TradeMe for a suitable vessel to make it in.
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