European Gardening: WHAT CROPS HAVE YOU PICKED THIS WEEK?, 1 by Patbarr

Patbarr wrote:
My yellow mangetout are from the Real Seed co too Sue. They are just opening their flowers which are very pretty and do look quite unusual against the distinctly yellow end shoots. Looking forward to sampling them.

Your fruit is way ahead of mine Maggi, although I've picked about 10 lb of strawberries so far. There are lots of plums on this year here too. I've one tree - Opal which only fruits on alternate years, but has such a heavy crop when it does fruit that I think it needs a rest the following year to recover.

I've spent the afternoon trying to get the net over a 12 foot cherry tree. After trying some rather complicated ideas thought up by my son, I ended up teetering on top of a ladder in the top of the tree, dragging the net like a rope from one side of the tree to the other and then got Jim and David to ease it down over the branches while I undid all the bits that snagged on the twigs. It touches the ground so the bottom of the net is held down with bricks so the birds can't get underneath it and I should get some nice juicy cherries in a couple of weeks. I'll have to dig the recipes out again. There was so much fruit last year we still haven't drunk all the wine I made. It has matured very nicely. While I was at Harlow Car gardens the other day I looked how much they were selling their cherry wine for and it was £6.25! I've still got about 18 bottles left - I'll have to get a stall. On second thoughts I'd rather drink it myself it will taste even better now I know how much they think it is worth.

I was going to invest in a fruit cage, but they are so expensive, so I bought a long roll of heavy duty bird netting, wide enough to easily cover everything and just cut it to size. I sometimes make a frame from posts or garden canes, but it is just as effective draped over whatever I want to keep the birds off. If they get a few through the net I don't mind, at least I get most of the crop, although that cherry tree is a bit of a challenge. My son says he is going to book his holidays to coincide with putting the net on next year so he won't get involved.