The top fruit harvest is like having your birthday on Christmas day. Nothing for 12 months and then all the bounty arrives in one day. A few days ago I was squeezing pears and fondling plums, picking off the odd one that was ripe and anticipating the glut. This morning all the plums are suddenly, simultaneously, squishily ripe and most of the small pear crop is on the grass, being devoured by wasps that clearly know better than I do when fruit is ripe. The Bramley and Monarch cooking apples are dropping every few minutes like large green bombs, bouncing ominously on the grass. Only the acidic Spartans and pock-marked James Grieve apples from a canker stricken tree are yet to peak. Shame the tree listed as a Discovery turned out to be another Spartan. It’ll have to be replaced, one fine day.
So it’s plums for breakfast, lunch, snacks and pudding. Yes, I know I could freeze them, preserve them and make creative puddings. But I’d much rather give myself stomachache eating them by the tub load straight off the tree.
3 Responses to “Fruit fest”
…and I’ve just picked 60 lbs of Damsons off our tree, it was so laden this year that, despite being propped up the weight has split the tree! We were looking at the Norfolk CGS DVD photos of your garden this afternoon, it was like another visit. By the way what was that Rudbeckia?
Hi Brian,
Here’s the answer from the RHS:-
“Your plant is most likely Rudbeckia hirta, one of the annual or short-lived perennial species of Rudbeckia. Unlike the long-lived perennial species, R. hirta is usually grown from seed and used for summer bedding. It typically grows to a height of about 1m and produces a good display of large, yellow to orange flowers from mid to late summer. The cultivars offered by seed companies vary from year to year. The dwarf ‘Toto’ (25cm high) and the taller ‘Indian Summer’ (90cm) both have the RHS AGM but others include the golden-orange ‘Marmalade’ and ‘Chim Chiminee’ with quilled petals in shades of yellow and brownish-red. Your photograph looks rather similar to pressed specimens in the Wisley Herbarium of R. hirta ‘Chim Chiminee’.”
I’m not sure – I’d like to see Chim Chiminee in the flesh to compare. I’ll collect the seed anyway and see what happens next year.
I think I agree with you Sue, it seems a bit like a ‘best fit’ answer to me!