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Soft fruit foraging
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Lorrainelovesplants



Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne
PostPosted: Wed Aug 07, 13 9:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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: 16005

PostPosted: Thu Aug 08, 13 5:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 13 6:12 am    Post subject: Where are all the sloes? Reply with quote
    

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: 16005

PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 13 6:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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: 35057
Location: Devon
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 13 6:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 13 7:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 13 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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: 16005

PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 13 8:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 13 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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: 35057
Location: Devon
PostPosted: Fri Aug 09, 13 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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: 16005

PostPosted: Sat Aug 10, 13 7:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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
PostPosted: Sun Aug 11, 13 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Mistress Rose wrote:
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?


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
PostPosted: Sun Aug 11, 13 8:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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
PostPosted: Mon Aug 12, 13 7:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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: 16005

PostPosted: Tue Aug 13, 13 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

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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