The diary of two novice gardeners and chicken keepers
Posted in Allotments on Oct 28th, 2011
I have completed harvesting the pears from the garden this morning. This tree had no fruit at all last year but this season has been great with lovely blossom in the spring and loads of fruit. I understand that these pears keep well but I shall be having a look at how I can use [...]
Posted in Allotments on Sep 28th, 2011
The Minarette Damson tree that I bought from Ken Muir has done us proud this year. It was beautiful in the Spring when it was smothered with blossom and I have picked five pounds of fruit this week. We love Damsons and quite a few have been eaten already. I have made four jars of jam [...]
Posted in Allotments on Jul 19th, 2011
We have two cherry trees in the back garden. One cost over twenty pounds from Frank Muir and is called Sweetheart. The other cost three ninety nine from Lidl and is a variety calles Stella. They have both blossomed beautifully this year and because we had next to no frost have fruited well too. The Stella [...]
This morning I made three jars of jam from some of the fruit collected from my Victoria Plum Tree bought from Lidl. They are really tasty straight from the tree but lovely made into jam so that we can have the taste right through the winter too. I usually cook large stoned fruit quite well [...]
Posted in Allotments on Nov 1st, 2010
We potted up three raspberry canes yesterday. They were from Lidl so only £2.47 for the three. They look very healthy with a good root system but have no variety on them or any indication as to wether they are Summer or Autumn fruiting. I already have one raspberry plant given to me by my sister. [...]
Posted in Allotments on Aug 23rd, 2010
Surprisingly the pear tree is a relative of the rose and the quince. Of our three pear trees in the garden only one has given us a decent amount of fruit this year. The Red Williams, a Minarette, did have three baby pears but only one has reached maturity. It is a corker however and [...]
Posted in Allotments, Cooking on Jul 31st, 2010
The kitchen window ledge is now full of jars of jam made from the fruit harvested from the allotment. I do still have some picking to do but I am nearly at the end of it. I have kept a few for ourselves which are in the fridge, given some away and have thirty two [...]
Posted in Allotments, Cooking on Jul 15th, 2010
It’s that time of year again. Time to pick the fruit and make the jams and jellies. To date I have made four jars of red gooseberry, one of yellow gooseberry and six jars of blackcurrant. I have already used up all my saved jars and freezer boxes and there is still a load to pick. [...]
Posted in Allotments on Feb 18th, 2010
Today I bought an apple tree from Aldi. It is an Elstar, an offspring of the Golden Delicious. I bought this cultivar before and it died. However the original cost £25.99 and this one only cost £3.99 so there is not so much to risk. Oh well I was just as disappointed when this tree [...]
Posted in Allotments on Jan 26th, 2010
I have bought another Blueberry bush to grow alongside our original one. I have chosen Blueberry Darrow from Wiggly Wigglers. They say it bears the largest blueberry known and is a late season, self fertile compact bush. It will be planted in ericaceous compost in a tall pot to stand next to our other one. [...]
