Fruit From the Garden

Bramley apples ripening on the tree

I've been in this garden now for 34 years. There has always been a Bramley apple tree in it and plenty of blackberry bushes, but I have put in a plum tree, two more apples, a  pear, two gooseberries, a red currant, two blueberries (still settling in), a few Autumn raspberries and plenty of wild strawberries. Oh, and two rhubarb plants as well. 

I now have a very new fig, a Brown Turkey, given to me by a friend, which I shall pot up next year. 

Young Brown Turkey fig in a pot

This  means there is often a chance, even in the midst of a city garden, of picking a fruit and cooking it or eating it there and then, which is great. 

The Bramley is the hub  of the garden. It's quite near the front, which makes it a welcome source of shade in the middle of the day. I have tried to keep it small, but I soon realised that it needs to grow large and so I let it. This year, after a couple of years of cutting it back it has grown huge again and produced dozens of apples that I am cooking and eating and storing for winter in the freezer.  

Ripe Bramley apples waiting to be cooked

There are two more apple trees, small ones, against the wall. One failed completely to have any apples this year.  I think it was cold when they should have formed, but I have had three from the Fiesta. 

Three Fiesta apples

I had quite a few plums earlier this year, lots of red currants and gooseberries, a very few blueberries, but the plants are fairly new. I have been eating a few autumn raspberries every day, but they are now over.  And the wild strawberries gave me a good fistful every day for a couple of months. 

The pears are healthy, I've only got three this year. They are Concorde,  a child of Conference and Comice, nearly ready to be picked. 

Three  Concorde pears

I have, rather late this year, a collection of tomatoes, from Real Seeds, based in Wales, which specialise in open-pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds. I saved mine from last year and they have produced well.  I started them a bit late and they are ripening now on the kitchen table. 

'House' dwarf cherry tomato

Interesting book: The Wilderness Cure (Simon & Schuster) by Mo Wilde, is the fascinating account of eating only wild food for a year. She lives in Scotland and harvested most of her own food from the sea, woods and fields with help in wild meat from friends. It is very fascinating.