apples
This year’s apple crop are bursting with juice and full of flavour. The wet
season is responsible for the juice, and the last few weeks of sun have
helped the flavour.
But the apples are about 20% smaller than normal. This is because of the
bad weather at the end of June and in July. The apples are normally
growing rapidly at that time, so they were badly affected.
An apple picked from the garden this year will taste better than ever!
pears-on-tree
Conference Pear – Latin Name: Pyrus communis
* easy to grow
* upright habit, often seen growing against a wall
* produces a heavy crop of longish khaki-green fruits
* pick early September for long storage, or early October for using
fresh
* ripen at room temperature – a soft stem end indicates optimum ripeness
Conference-pear-tree
ripe-pear
* good source of dietary fibre (4 grams in a medium sized pear)
* good source of Vitamin C
* no saturated fat, salt or cholesterol
* a medium sized pear contains about 100 calories
Table Top Strawberries planted in York on August 1st have grown well.
table-top-strawberries
The strawberry variety nearest the camera is Darsilette. This is an
early variety. The other variety, Darselect, is a mid-season, main-crop
strawberry.
The cold-stored strawberry plants arrived with good roots and crowns,
but no leaves. As soon as they were planted into warm, moist peat they
started to produce leaves. They have been kept moist and sprayed with
soluble feed. In the six weeks they have been growing they have been
de-flowered twice. They should produce a 60-70% yield next season.
TableTopStrawberries
These table top strawberries are showing great promise just six weeks
after planting.
runner-bean-shoot
Runner beans are ready to pick when they are about 20 cm long. The runner bean
has bunches of flowers which mature at different rates. So each bean on
the stalk is a different age. To harvest beans when they are ready, but
not too old, the beans have to be picked every day. If the runner beans
are too old when picked, they become fibrous and stringy, and unpleasant
to eat. Also, the maturing beans will send a signal to stop further
flowers being produced, so less beans will develop.
growing-figs
A fig tree in the garden produces figs over quite a long period, and they are delicious.
The figs change colour as they ripen, going from green to a very dark purple.
fig
The fig fruit becomes softer to touch when it is ready for eating.
ripening-figs
The new
lawn which was laid with turf rolls four weeks ago looks as though it has been down forever. The joins between the turf have disappeared, and the grass roots have grown into
the prepared surface, so that the turfs are well and truly fixed. The original turf rolls cannot be lifted up, or moved, because the roots are holding them down. The grass has been watered well and kept moist at all times.
The new lawn has been cut with a motor mower several times. The turf has developed into the lawn promised in the sales leaflet! A blend of durable and fine grasses providing an attractive looking lawn able to withstand all the wear and tear.
strawberry-runner-in-pot
When the roots of the strawberry runner are growing out of the base of it’s
pot, cut it away from the parent plant.
Grow the young plants on, allowing them to become well rooted, and plant
them out in the autumn.
* Plant them quite shallow, with the base of the crown at soil
level, so that they do not rot.
* Start a new bed with the new runners.
* Strawberries should only be grown in the same place for 4 years
and then moved on. This is because viruses and pests build up in
the soil which reduce the crop.
When the raspberry harvest has come to an end in the garden, prune out
the old flowering canes at soil level. The new shoots that have grown
this year will bear next year’s fruit. Removing the old canes from the
raspberry row will prevent the carry over of diseases, and give the new
canes light and space.
* Select the old canes which had fruit this year and cut them out at
soil level.
* Choose the two strongest and healthiest new canes on each root to
keep in the row. Cut away the weaker canes at soil level.
raspberry-shoots
* Leave only 3 to 4 young raspberry canes per foot of row.
* Tie the new raspberry canes to the supports, using a twisting
knot, so that the canes do not rub against the support.
raspberry-knot
* The raspberry canes are quite pliable at this time of the year and
can be bent and moved into position. The canes become brittle in
the spring and snap easily, so it is important to train them into
position now.
Pruning the raspberry canes as soon as the fruiting season ends, will
encourage a good crop of raspberries in the garden next year.
The common Fig tree (Latin name – Ficus carica) produces the most
delicious fruit.
fresh-figs
When the fig is cut open, the juicy flesh is revealed. They can be eaten
raw.
open-fig
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