Shoots and leaves...
The whims and woes, highs and lows, of trying to grow fruit and veg in Nordic latitudes.
We picked about 25 litres (approx 12 kg) of blackcurrants today from the Rosendal bushes which is probably about half of the yield from up there, maybe less. The branches are weighed down with fruit. We've been picking blackcurrants from the bushes down here in Oventrask to eat, on an as-needed basis but there are still quite a lot to pick, and the redcurrants are beyond ripe so they need some attention too. Tomorrow I will take all the blackcurrants to Espoo and freeze them - we simply don't have time to make jam, juice and jelly while the honey harvest is happening.
I also picked the first french beans today, just a handful, but they have to be picked or the plants stop producing flowers. I have also picked maybe 8-10 cucumbers and we have been eating bucketfuls of home-made tzatziki - I definitely over-did the garlic in the batch I made tonight. Lots of tomatoes too and carrots and beetroots. We will have courgettes by the weekend (they are in the vegetable garden not the polytunnel). Regarding the polytunnel, we are a bit worried about the number of small squashes that are rotting on the plants. Google led me to believe that the shrivelled fruits are not pollinated. So I have placed a box of beeswax + honey in there to attract some more bees. The foliage is so dense it is possible that the insects are just not finding the female flowers. Of course, I could pollinate by hand...
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