The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Fruit => Topic started by: luckylady on August 12, 2012, 05:25:16 pm
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On our usually laden 4 plum trees this year we have a total of 2 plums! 1 pear between 2 trees. 11 damson trees are producing nothing and we are usually giving damsons away. Only 2 apple trees out of 10 have any fruit this year. On the bright side the elderberries are coming along nicely although they do blossom much later in the year than the others so won't have been caught with the cold snap we had. Guess it'll have to be elderberry jelly in the jam pan.
Anyone else had a deminished fruit crop this year or was it just my blossom catching the frost?
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Sorry to hear you've had such troubles.
We are currently having a glut of alpine strawberries and raspberries, I've been quite surprised. Gooseberries are poor but I blame my cat :cat:. We only have a very small patch though.
Dans
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Our plums are so bad, I'm thinking of changing my username. Normally we make 400 litres plus of wine plus fill a cupboard with jams and chutneys and still have spare to sell at the gate!
A very bad year for plums :rant: :raining: <----------- too much of that and not enough of this ----------> :sunshine:
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Luckylady we've had exactly the same problems. One mangled apple between 4 apple trees; One plum between 2 plum trees, not a single pear on the pear tree and the normally laden blackcurrent bushes.............have all been swiped by the birds this year :furious: . The rhubarb and the gooseberries have been fantastic though :excited: and fingers crossed for the autumn raspberries :fc:
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There is no fruit in our village at all. The Kiwi and Hazelnuts seem ok but it has had a big impact on us. No free pig food, no cider and no jams.
Imagine if one was relliant on a fruit crop to make a living. Our region usually produces tonnes of apples for the domestic and export market so no doubt the cost of fruit will increase in the shops.
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rhubarb, raspberries, gooseberries all doing well no strawbs or plums no apples or pears... there is going to be a bumper crop of blackberries and elderberries though
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I forgot about the gooseberries. They didn't do too badly and I managed to make half a dozen jars of jam. Can't stand gooseberries myself but OH will eat the jam. Relieved its not just me with a poor crop - oh that sounds mean doesn't it - its not meant in that way. I wish we'd all had a bumper crop. ;)
Dans what on earth does your cat :cat: do to the gooseberries? ;D
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She grabs the branch with her mouth, shakes her head and then jerks back to tear it. Only the gooseberry, the red currant, white currant, blueberry and raspberry surround it and are all unscathed. Found many unripe gooseberries on the floor and many broken branches. Couldn't figure it out until I caught her one day. *sigh* She doesn't even play with the berries that falls, or the twigs she breaks off, she just goes for another. She's the same with cardboard. It's a good job she gives good cuddles!
Dans
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She grabs the branch with her mouth, shakes her head and then jerks back to tear it. Only the gooseberry, the red currant, white currant, blueberry and raspberry surround it and are all unscathed. Found many unripe gooseberries on the floor and many broken branches. Couldn't figure it out until I caught her one day. *sigh* She doesn't even play with the berries that falls, or the twigs she breaks off, she just goes for another. She's the same with cardboard. It's a good job she gives good cuddles!
Dans
They all have their own funny little quirks don't they? One of our does the same with cardboard boxes too and she's a real cuddler. Must be a personality trait! :cat:
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No pears or cherries this year. One apple spotted on the brambly tree, all the others were hit by wind and rain and blew off as little marble sized apples :'( some strawberries and raspberries but not a huge crop. Worst of all NO GREENGAGE for wine :o :rant:
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we're the same, not one plum from about 20 trees, no pear at all, very few apples. Strawberries reasonable but have suffered in the wet
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Worst of all NO GREENGAGE for wine :o :rant:
Will send you my 2 greengage - they are quite plump!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Loads of blackberries though and you only need a few apples to put with them for bramble jelly :yum:
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Quelle disastre! We have 7 apples off 16 trees, no plums or pears at all. Strawberry bed was deicmated by thieving bar steward rabbits :rant: add to this poor wild fruits, sloes, damson, hawes & brambles! Winter ahead looking very grim without all these useful additions to both mine & the pigs larder! :'(
Veg garden has been listed as a UN area of decimation(rabbits again! ::) >:( ) & flooding and an area of outstanding beauty for its grand selection of weeds! ;D
Not a good year in the garden, thank god for the courgette & tomato factory in the polytunnel :excited:
Mandy :pig:
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No pears or plums at all :( :( . Slugs ate the courgettes, and the tomatoes and peppers got blight. Potatoes rotted in the ground. Just a few early strawberries and loganberries. The apples are few and poor. But the thistles and bindweed are rampant ::) ::) . Roll on next summer :thumbsup:
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My three in one pear tree was covered in blossom, then loads of tiny pears. Now down to two only. The rhubarb is all thin andd spindly, my cherry which fruited for the first time last year (a while cherry) had quite a bit of blossom but no fruit. BUT, my three in one apple tree is covered in lovely apples even the russet branch which doesn't usually do well, the plum has a good crop and my jostaberries are ripe and plump. The birds usually strip the jostaberries before I can get to them but this year aren't interested and I'm not fit enough to go picking. Must try though. I can't bear to see them drop. My new apple tree has an apple on it.
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NO cherries (last freezer bag eaten in June in preparation); 10 green guages; measly bowl of gooseberries and waiting for the pears and apples to ripen whilst they are still there....they are not very big though. The alpine straws are doing ok but let's face it, half a bowl at a time doesn't a glut make....on the other hand what to do with the courgettes..... :thinking:
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Courgette cake? Similar recipe to carrot cake - saw it in a magazine. The few apples we have this year are being pecked. I have just watched the blackbirds attacking the apples in a frenzy. What is happening? - they don't usually touch them until they have fallen. The birds must be really short of food.
Have just eaten my ONE greengage :yum: :D
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We've just found a handful of wild raspberries in the hedge along the lane :yum:
But where are our damsons, plums and apples ??? No jam or apple chutney :'(