u/muzavazone

Is anyone else juicing apples in a pot? I love the clear juice it makes, but it takes forever! This is three runs and the big jars are only 720ml. Small jars 330ml.

The apples I used today didn't look like compost after juicing, so I tasted the mush and decided to make thick applesauce - three batches, two with different spices and one plain. I guess I'll do this more often- the apples still taste great but there's minimal water left.

Plus the last of the tomatoes in a thick passata.

Not in the picture - the beginnings of Melanzane Sott'olio. 9 large eggplants cut and salted.

So many berries, and so tiny! Maybe I should feed them better… 😅

Lots and lots of fallen fruit from the lower branches, but there are also plenty of berries that are still completely green, and the plants are still flowering!

This is my first proper lingonberry harvest. It took three years to get here.

The berries are picked through, washed, and ready for jam :)

(Accepting jam-making advice from the Nordic experts!)

I don't know what these tiny blue ones are, they were supposed to be Swenson Red. They are not even red, and the size is like a medium blueberry. Not good for eating.

The few red ones were planted as Boskoop Glory a year later - these were supposed to be blue... They are the type where the skin slips off and there's a slippery seedy blob inside 🤢 Not good for eating.

The yellow one was not planned, a spontaneous hardware store seedling. It's actually quite good... this one seems to be true to label.

All planted in a premium spot near a west facing brick wall too 😭

Today I made 1.8l of juice in a juicing pot. Will probably try to make a jelly tomorrow. I hope it's at least half decent (never made grape jelly before, so any advice is very welcome).

🍇EDIT: I'm changing my mind about the tiny blue ones. Tried the cold juice out of the fridge today, and it was amazing! Not making jelly, sugar would ruin it. The juice is really good with a strong colour and pleasant aroma, not too sweet. I'm one step closer to making wine 🍷

I always make a very thick chunky jam with just lime juice - it's perfect on a toasted bagel.

I tried adding quince, but I didn't like this combo.

Mixing them with gooseberries in a jam was ok but nothing special.

Last year i made Salsa Verde and it was so nice to just grab a jar without having to make it fresh! It's not the same, but good enough. I have printed three recipes, but I don't remember which one I followed or what average recipe did I actually make 🤭

What are your favourite ways to use tomatillos? Maybe you're trying something new with them this season?

I was so surprised to find this little one today!

I didn't see toadlet dispersal this year, not a single one, and yet here we are - a new addition. At least one newbie found its way to the greenhouse :)

(Juvenile Bufo bufo)

I wonder if she was here all summer but I simply didn't see her behind the vegetation.

This is a European toad, bufo bufo. It's free to go but it chooses to stay.

I haven't seen her since June? She's grown so much! And still hanging around her old favourite spot 🫠

Pictures show a dead marten that has drowned in a rain barrel.

I was shocked when I first saw that patch of dark fur floating in the water! My first thought was a pet animal.. my mind was listing every matching color individual that crosses my property..

I don't know how to feel about this. Neighbors with chickens will be overjoyed that it's one enemy down, but it's still very sad to find him like this. And it's a boy, so not a big loss to the local population.

Maybe it's time to add some ladders (I already have bee floats in every container) - but what are the chances that this happens again? He didn't need a drink, there's a smaller and easily accessible water container right next to this one. And we have a pond ten meters away. I guess he was just climbing around and slipped..

I've picked some Aronia berries today :) Cultivar Nero.

I'm not sure if they are fully ripe (they never taste good raw!), but they seem to be fully black.

My standard use for them is apple juice - mix 2-3 handfuls with cut apples in a juicing pot.

It was such a sad day digging up potato peels and leftove chunks.

There were even plants without a single whole potato left!

293 potatoes planted, 7 varieties. One late variety is still in the ground... And I won't have enough storage potatoes this year.

There was a huge network of tunnels right under potatoes, and I don't know if it was a mole who built the metro, or did the rodents dig the tunnels themselves.

I've never seen this level of destruction before. Mice, voles, rats? How can I avoid this repeating next year?

Chile de Arbol from saved seeds.

Plant architecture is completely messed up, it grows like a broom. It also flowers in large clusters and sets fruit in bunches.

Last pic shows it next to a normal plant. It's significantly shorter and very dense.

These are probably the two extremes in the blueberry world. The first historic cultivar with tiny "dry" berries and the modern juicy giant.

My pics show the random sizes, I didn't cherry pick for the very biggest and the tiniest.

I do think that Rubel is overrated in the modern garden. I keep it as a piece of history to show guests where it all began, but I don't find the berries very enjoyable. I don't get the "intense flavor"...

Bonus is a giant, and surprisingly, it tastes great too. It's one of my favorites, even though I was very skeptical about that massive size. I just couldn't believe they didn't sacrifice the taste.

What do you think of these two?

How would you go about rebuilding this space? Or would you skip the renovation and build a standalone wooden coop instead?

I'm (almost) a first time chicken owner on a very tight budget, so it's mostly a DIY project.

This is a 100-year-old brick outbuilding with a hole in the wall and an old chicken door. I have no idea when it last housed chickens. It looks like the room has been used for charcoal storage for decades.

The room shares a wall with our central heating boiler room, so it should never freeze in winter. Two walls have old plaster, one is bare bricks. No floor. Wooden ceiling.

The space is about 2.8 × 5.8 m (9 × 19 ft), with a small window at each end (east/west). I'd like to partition it so the entrance part can remain clean storage.

My biggest concerns (besides being a little lost with all the building stuff) are ventilation, natural light, and predator-proofing. The windows are quite small, so I'm thinking of making part of the partition wall from wire mesh to keep light and airflow.

I'd love to hear how you'd approach this, especially if you've restored an old farm building or have any experience or ideas to share.

Location: Lithuania. Garden zone 6b :)

Some are half picked or finishing, some are just starting to ripen. I'm out there eating them all day long 🫐 not a single berry went into the freezer yet..

Everything is late this year but the constant rain and moderate temperature resulted in explosive growth. Expecting even better results next year. This year showed me how much water do they really need!

One young Patriot bush shot up a bunch of 1 meter new canes! It looks like a broom and hosts an aphid farm with some ladybugs taking care of them (first time seeing aphids on blueberry). Too bad the berries are a bit underwhelming - rather bland and plain sweet compared to others. First time flowering, so maybe it will get better...

My earliest was Blue Jay together with Bluecrop (almost finished), so I guess there's still room for season expansion.

Next was Nelson, followed by Bonus and Brigitta.

Rubel was evicted and placed in a pot last year. It's starting to ripen now.

Legacy is new (took the Rubel's spot on the ground), 3 berries are still green.

Chandler is probably the latest, but they do overlap quite a bit.

2 new pots need planting - Reka and Pink Lemonade. The latter will probably stay in pot until it proves it deserves better.

Anyone growing these cultivars? Share your experience and thoughts :)

I never had this kompot version before, and I'm so happy one jar failed to seal! Taste test motivated me to make some more and try some different combinations too.

Assembling the jars was so much fun, I forgot to take some pics of the uncooked berries. It's so petty.

I tried to find an English word for "kompot" and couldn't.

It's a traditional Eastern European fruit drink made by simmering or preserving whole fruits in sweetened water. Some people eat the fruits too, but I don't like them. You either drink it straight or dilute with water if it's too syrupy.

I half filled the jars with berries, added sugar directly to the jar, poured in boiling water and then proceeded with the normal water bath canning.

I used red and green gooseberries and white currants. Next batch was white currants and blueberries for colour. I also did pure cherries and Nanking cherries. I'm now wondering if I should do some with black currants...

Thanks for suggesting this recipe u/argetlamzn ! I've never even heard of clafoutis before, so it's been an interesting new experience.

I'm not sure if I made it right :) I'm undecided if it's something I will make again.

The tart gooseberry is amazing in this combination, but the base reminds me of dense but smooth semolina porridge (it's cooked with all milk and some butter). In other words - nothing special and vaguely familiar; a classic comfort food in my region, typically served with some jam.

I'll be the only one eating this tonight (instead of a proper supper).The other person in the house declared that it has weird texture and smells like soap 🤣

I followed this recipe:

https://myblueandwhitekitchen.com/home/2014/8/27/the-very-essence-gooseberry-clafoutis

They are soooo spiky! And I was greedy enough to plant 4 of these painful bushes... Two reds, two green.

It's almost time to pick them all but I keep postponing this torturous experience 😬

We are eating them fresh off the bush but there's still so much left to pick...

Help me get inspired/motivated 😊

This is purple Glencoe (hybrid or red and black raspberries).

There's an increasing number of berries that display this mosaic pattern when ripening, and those pale sections never colour up properly.

Is something feeding on them? Or is it some disease?

The branches are growing too fast; that's too much weight to hold on a skinny stem. I just don't know what to do with it.

Maybe treat it like a gooseberry and run a string around on some stakes? Most of the branches are happily laying in the grass.. but at least they are still attached to the trunk.

More pics in the recent post here https://www.reddit.com/r/Berries/s/nurgdr6lpB

Outside it's always a lottery here. Cold wet summer, slow difficult start..

... just as they started picking up speed, the blackness came. It's already on the fruits and on the stems.

I have a bunch of extras here, some with lost labels. (Main crop is in the greenhouse).

The first and worst affected is Black Krym, unfortunately, and also Black Prince.

Assorted cherries are doing ok.

Blight resistant Crimson Crush looks perfect. (But I don't like those red rounds too much...)