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...)
This is Bristol. 3rd summer. It was one plant. Unexpectedly, I have half a row of them now...
I planted it without a trellis and it just doesn't work (for me; the plant is thriving and expanding). Last year it fell over and rooted in multiple places.. and it's a pain to work with, literally. The new canes tend to fall and break (or break when lifted). Last year I was afraid to touch it, it was so fragile!
..long story short, I've finally cleared the the finished canes and lifted primocanes vertically, supported by some twine on stakes. The canes are not fixed in place and have some free movement in the wind, so I'm not sure if they can stand like this and not beak? Will the branches need support or strict pruning?
Also, how tall should I let them be? This is probably around 160cm. Too tall? The stakes were 1m before hammering them in, so let's say around 70-80cm tall now.
I will do some thinning a bit later - I have to see first if any of those canes start wilting indicating that I broke them when lifting...
Eventually I want to install a trellis here, but probably not this season.. if I can get away with a more simple solution?
I have no idea which gooseberry was used for the cross, so I just picked both colors :)
I cannot believe it's almost August. I cannot believe it's still a wall of green (started mid March).
Maybe they need a bit of stress 😈
..maybe I should turn off automatic watering to make them panic and think the end is near .. they look too comfortable.
..or maybe perform some trendy "pruning" rituals? ✂️
--
Btw, it was a good idea to keep the sun chair, and also plant cucumbers under it to not waste the space completely (I don't really use it, but it's nice having an option for rainy day).
When they say sour cherry is shade tolerant, you better believe it. This one was growing under the neighbor's birch trees, and my dense hazelnut bush on the opposite side.
I did see it flower but then forgot all about it.. now as I'm clearing the border, I stumbled upon this view! Needless to say, hazelnut has been cleared to the ground, so the cherry will be getting some proper light in the first half of the day.
I guess I know what I'll be using to colour my white Nanking cherry juice 🍷
Cherries are normal size for a "wild" tree, and the taste is ok for processing. Me happy. It looks so pretty.
2kg final harvest from one bush. + Around 1kg was picked before this.
Someone suggested making syrup but I really like the chunky jam it makes. I'll keep them sugared overnight before heating - this helps to keep the fruit in one piece and makes it chewy. And I'll probably add some black currants tomorrow.
As promised, here is a side by side pic. And pits too.
Nanking cherry (top) - Prunus Tomentosa - is miniature in comparison. They also don't have long stems and normally detach without them at all. I picked these two specifically trying to keep the stem for demo purposes.
Sourness - top award goes to the hybrid Carmine Jewel (bottom right). Sour cherry (left) sits in the middle. White nanking cherry is probably the sweetest, and red is closer to sour cherry.
Sour cherry variety unknown but these are pretty standard sizes.
The pits are just slightly different despite their sizes.
First time picking more than a handful! The white ones are a little "washed out" and more watery than red. There's some sweetness, but IMHO they are rather bland overall.
The white ones are starting to go bad, the red ones are almost ready but I think they can hang a while longer.
They are too tiny for pitting, so I was thinking maybe use a steam juicing pot? And then what.. can the juice, or make jelly? Add some other fruit and make jam? Mix with normal cherries?.. freeze and mix with something else later?
I tried my food mill on regular sour cherries today and it looked like it was about to break, so I'm not doing that again..
Cultivars: Prunus Tomentosa 'Orient' (red) and 'Snovit' (white).
Location: western Lithuania
Footprints found inside a drafty barn, on a small pile of soft garden swing covers sitting on the floor.
My hand fits in size M gloves (or size 8).
Original post here, and there's no clear agreement on what it might be.. https://www.reddit.com/r/GardenWild/s/9bDBJMA1N0