Mid summer 2024 fruit garden updates
Methley plums went berserk this year. There must be a hundred pounds on this mature tree. I think that the branches are thick enough to support all this weight, but…
I’m using boards to prop up some of the heavier loads anyway. I would have thinned more if I had time, but, I’m not finding the branches I did thin made much difference in their sizes. Rather, I spent more time focusing on thinning the pome fruits and the pluot, which also went berserk this year. Once it gets closer to ripening I’ll show you what that looks like.
Ideally the fruits get quite dark before they are at their prime.
When I first started getting fruit from this tree, I didn’t like it very much. Then I learned that all Asian plums have sour skin and pits. Now that I know how to eat them, I like them much better and find the flavor to be similar to watermelon.
There are so many plums on this tree that I don’t think we’ll be able to eat all of them fresh. Since they are watery and not freestone, they are not ideal for canning or dehydrating.
I poked around on the internet to find out if there are good uses for this plum, but struggled to find something that seems like it would work well. I did find one recipe I’ll try through the National Center for Home food preservation. There are a few recipes for plum jelly that seem like they’d work well, and detail the process for extracting the juice better than other sources. I’ll update when I know how well it works out.
Another option would be plum wine, but I’m struggling to find a method/recipe that comes from a reliably safe source. There’s also a bunch of equipment I don’t have and not sure I want to invest space in. Have you made wine with Asian plums? How did it work out?
Gooseberries have ripened and given me a solid tasting this year.
Their flavor of Black Velvet gooseberries is… acceptable. I guess that is how you’d put it. I don’t find strong aroma of grape or blueberry like the sellers say. They are tart-sweet. They ripen sporadically and slowly, over many weeks, giving a nibble here and there. I don’t like working through the thorns on this variety, and I’m not a fan of fighting off the sawflies. I may Marie Kondo this variety. Time will tell.
Jeanne Gooseberries are noticeably sweeter than Black Velvet, but still not much flavor. They do not have thorns - yay! And they are known to resist the sawflies. Indeed I don’t think I picked off any sawflies of the two shrubs that I have. But it is awfully hard to tell if these are ripe or not. They color unevenly. And some of the berries are showing stress from our unusual heatwaves and unusable.
The huge Hinnomaki Yellow gooseberries were stolen by a critter, so I didn’t get to taste them. :(
Also ripening at this time, which I’ve discussed repeatedly, are Illinois Everbearing mulberries. Their flavor and yield continue to wow me, and if I had it to do over again, I’d probably plant another tree in lieu of gooseberries for a harvest during this time slot. We will see if the Noir of Spain produces for me in the next few years… if it doesn’t I’ll get another Illinois Everbearing.
Raspberries — I thought I had lost all of my raspberries due to phytophthora, but some made a resurgence. Unfortunately, they are ripening all weird.
These raspberries spend weeks at a light-colored stage, never ripening all the way, then suddenly they rot. Super annoying.
I think what happened here is that a variety I tried to get rid came back. I got rid of it because I didn’t like the flavor. Pretty sure it was Latham. I’m going to cut these out.
My replacement variety to the ones lost by phytopthora, Killarney, is growing well and will update next year.
Boysenberries - I planted a one gallon pot from Portland Nursery last year and it’s growth is amazing!
There were not a ton of berries this year, but, I bet next year is going to be a sizeable harvest. I’m thinking since they are doing so well, I’ll likely tip root some of the vines coming up and make room for more of them. I sure do love boysens.
This white currant will likely come out, to make more room for boysens. Last year all the berries were damaged by box elder bugs, and this year the birds made off with them. What’s left are these teeny berries that don’t have much flavor. I believe the variety is Primus.
What’s happening in your fruit gardens?
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