With a distinct morning chill in the air, autumn seems to be well on its way. Whilst we’re still hoping that the warmer weather will last just a bit longer – we have some important projects to finish before we can cope with cold weather again – it’s probably about time that we share a well overdue update on how our fruit and veg is doing (and has done!) this year.
This is what our garden looked like in April when we first shared our planting fruit and veg plans for the year with you.
It’s come a long way since then and – although we didn’t do a huge amount of maintenance – it’s still been a fairly successful year so far.
As always, some things were more successful than others.
Our raspberries this year were absolutely amazing. We had so many that, we shared a load of them with our lovely neighbours and still had too many to eat!
They grow in our front garden and while we really don’t mind people picking a few in passing, this year for the first time (the first time we know of at least) something kind of bizarre happened.
One afternoon when we just returned back from doing some shopping, one of our neighbours came over and told us that there had been a woman picking our raspberries. We’re not talking a handful or two, we’re talking filling a whole big bag of our raspberries.
Apparently our neighbour who confronted her said that she just thought we wouldn’t mind.
Yeah, so it’s not the end of the world, but it’s still just really weird.
Our blackberries are also doing really well this year.
They’re in our front garden, too – but they don’t seem to be a popular with the passers-by as our raspberries were!
If you follow us in Instagram, you may have seen that we already harvested a bumper crop of shallots a while ago. After letting them dry, we now have a huge bunch of them tied together in our orangery dodgy little porch at the side of our house.
The same goes for a huge amount of onions
and a load of garlic, too.
Last week, we finally also harvested our carrots.
They’re a bit misshapen and wonky, but I’ve already tried them and they are delicious.
So, let’s be honest… have you ever pinched anyone’s fruit or veg out of the front garden? Do you grow fruit and veg in the garden? Do you have any planting tips for us?
I’ve always thought that whenever I have my own home & garden, I’d grow berries or something in a spot specifically for passerby to eat as they walk by – a way of saying ‘hello’ even if I’m not actually around to do it, you know?
OTOH, my mom has a beautiful garden that people always slow down to admire when walking by, to the point where one person in our neighbourhood pinches flowers *right out of the ground* – they don’t just pick the flower, but dig out the whole plant, which is … kinda rude. Also, theft. :\
Pinching whole plants?! Wow, that’s definitely taking things to a new level! Sooo rude! If we have plants left over when we’ve divided or removed something, we’ll usually put them out with a sign telling people to take them to a good, new home, but just taking plants right out of the ground is just awful!
We sometimes see parents stood at th garden wall explaining the different fruit and veg to their children which is really cool. I love the idea of sharing berries as a way to say ‘hi’ and we’re more than happy for people to take a few berries in passing, but filling bags just kind of takes it to a new level (I guess we’re just not that friendly! ;))
Cx
I have strawberries and raspberries, but because of all that’s been going on in the cottage, I was unable to begin my dream vegetable garden this year. Maybe next year!
Strawberries & raspberries sound pretty amazing… In our kind of houses we sometimes just have to make sacrifices…
Cx
I always think fruit growing over a fence is fair game – if you can beat the rats, birds etc from getting it first. I am in Australia so its wonderful to score the odd passionfruit, fig etc. However I cannot understand how anyone thinks someone wouldn’t mind stripping a plant if they don’t even ask. I saw a group (a group mind you) of older ladies filling up the seats on their wheelie walkers with someones figs, and while you don’t want good fruit going to waste, I do wonder if the owner had plans of their own. Cheers
We could of done with a net for our black currents! We didn’t get a single black currant this year – but the pigeons had fun! I’d love to have passion fruit growing in the garden – it’s probably my favorite fruit – but I’m pretty sure I’d have no chance in our wet climate though!
Cx
Hello,
Your raspberries look amazing. It would never occur to me to even pinch one or two from someone else’s garden, let alone a full bag of it. That’s so out of order. That reminds me of a time when my parents had a cherry tree and told my auntie to help herself with the cherries whilst we were on holiday. She came and ripped the whole tree, snapping branches (lots of them) and raided the tree of every single cherry on it, leaving all the snapped branches all over the garden. Needless to say my folks never asked her again, we thought the birds were more deserving of the cherries…Some people baffle me, really!
I didn’t have any luck with my raspberries this year, I bought a kit from B&Q half price and we are pretty sure they were already dead when we planted them. Nothing ever happened. But we have had such a wonderful summer this year that everything else we planted has flourished to the point of being sick of eating tomatoes and courgettes amongst other things.
I have been enjoying reading your blog.
Good luck with your projects.
X
Thanks for your comment Cecile, glad you like our blog!
It’s really shocking what some people think they can get away with sometimes! At least we’re not the only ones who find it really bizarre. It’s really shocking that people would treat other peoples plants like that – the poor cherry tree!
Like you, we bought some baby cauliflower plants at B&Q (last year) that were on sale and had definitely seen better days and in the end they didn’t grow into anything either. I guess things are on sale for a reason.
We’ve recently started buying our plants at the local market – everything half the price (or less!) than at the big DIY stores and up till now has also been better quality!
You should definitely try growing raspberries again, if we can – anyone can ;)
Cx