This week it’s fruit picking week in Stephanie’s Kitchen Garden. All of our soft fruit bushes have really been enjoying the hot sunny weather and are covered in plump juicy fruits almost ready for harvesting. We have been watering all of our fruits plants and bushes twice a week and they have been thriving in the sunshine.
This week we will be harvesting redcurrants for the first time from a bush planted in October 2016. It is now a good-sized plant and is providing a reasonable first harvest. We always get a good crop from our blackcurrant bushes and these are dripping in large dark fruits. These will be used to make jam and coulis, so it’s going to be warm in the kitchen!
We are now harvesting the first raspberries of the season. They are a little on the small size but beautifully juicy and tasty. We are lucky if these actually make it anywhere near the kitchen as they usually end up being eaten somewhere between the kitchen garden and the house!
Our blueberry bushes are peppered with berries, just beginning to turn blue. We will probably pick a handful of them this week but a bumper crop is not far away. Blueberries crop better if they are grown in pots rather than in the ground, so they are watered daily due to the pots drying out fast in the hot weather. They prefer rain water as tap water can alter the PH of the soil to more alkaline than they like, however our water butts are empty and there is no promise of any rain on the forecast so tap water will have to do.
And ofcourse we are continuing to harvest our strawberries. We are having a really good strawberry season this year; delivering trugs full of dark red juicy sweet fruits to the kitchen. They are the sweetest we have known them for a few years, which we have credited to the hot summer sunshine. The dry soil is helping to keep them in perfect condition and slug-free. Delicious for breakfast, or for an evening treat with cream, but best eaten freshly picked and still warm from the sun.
