Very Berry

is what we are at Bliss. We're also berry busy, which explains why I haven't been blogging at all lately.
The Bliss potager is a frightfully berry affair at the mo with ever-bearing strawberries and
woodland strawberries that I've sown myself.
It always amazes me that from a humble packet of seeds can spring such bounty.
Woodland strawberries are my favourite strawberries as they are the strawberry-ist of all strawberries, and they are more or less evergreen too, always a bonus. The fruit may be small but the taste is great!
We also have blueberries this year, a first! I grow them in big pots as the soil (heavy clay) is not acid enough for them.
Another berry that's looking quite promising is the gooseberry; in the potager are 2 varieties, the red one and the green/yellow one.
There are 4 standard gooseberries (you can see some in the berry first pic), 2 red, 2 green and all 4 have branches groaning with the load they are carrying. That crop is going to be turned into a lot of gooseberries pies!
And we have these too, they are called berries in Dutch, but for some bizarre reason they are called currants in the English language. These are the white berries (white currants) although the red ones are more common and I grow them as standards too. That way they don't take up much space and the berries are easier to pick as well.
Another berry growing in the potager is the Japanese wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius). I like the red stems (very prickly), and the very light green leaves. The fruits are not that big but they taste lovely. The wineberry is related to the raspberry and yes,
I have raspberries (Rubus idaeus) too, a whole arch full and they are about to flower as you can see (pic below). Both the wineberry and the raspberry are related to the black berry (Rubus fruticosus), another berry that is grown at Bliss.


In other fruit today:

The apples are coming along nicely as they've finished flowering and are setting fruit.
Recently I bought a small crab apple for the new extension to my potager ( I did mention I've been berry busy, haven't I?),
its flowers are lovely and later in the year it will brighten up autumn and winter with pretty little red fruits.
My pear tree is doing great too; it had lots of blossom,
and now it's setting fruit, and it's going pear shaped.
The grape in my Victorian greenhouse is about to burst into song, er flower soon I'm happy to say.The outside grapes are not there yet, they've just formed their first few leaves.
It is possible that you, gentle reader, do not care a fig for berries and other fruits but I most certainly do.
See?

copyright 2009 Y.E.W. Heuzen

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
Groucho Marx