robzlog & robznov » fruit

Apple blossom opens up this morning

robz — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:27:53 +0000

In the garden, our two apple trees change daily . . .

This morning the apple blossom opened up . . .

I hope the number of flowers means we will get lots of fruit this year!

Today we picked 3 3/4lb of blackberries to make jam

robz — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:56:38 +0000

The fruit has ripened later this year up Hillsborough in Ilfracombe and there are lots of lovely berries ready for jam making.

See the full gallery on posterous

On the whole, we’ve had a good year for fruit with good crops of apples, raspberries and blackcurrants.

Posted via email from robertz

Long distance tomatoes finally ripening

robz — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:09:19 +0000

The fruit has been growing for ages, it seems, but the tomatoes are finally starting to ripen.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Looks like being our first good crop for quite a few years after rain spoilt previous crops.

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Who’s getting fruity in the garden?

robz — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:26:39 +0000

I just wish I could slow time down at this point of the year. From April to June everything seems to grow so fast. The poppies have come and gone in a blink and our wild rose has almost finished flowering.

Now the flowers on the bushes are developing into flowers. The raspberries look good . . .

. . . and so do the blackcurrants . . .

As you can see, I’m a practical gardener and love plants that provide produce. The runner beans are starting to flower, although still have a way to grow up the wall, and the tomatoes are too.

So while it will be wonderful to eat the beans and tomatoes, and make jams and puddings, I don’t want the summer to pass by too fast.

I do enjoy flowers though and think the colour of these (haven’t a clue what they are ) is stunning . . .

Posted via web from robertz’s posterous

When did you last eat fresh produce?

robz — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:43:49 +0000

Probably never if you’ve always shopped at a supermarket, for their produce has to be chilled, stored or worse to preserve it from grower to distribution centre to articulated transporter to shop to shelf, which doesn’t leave a lot of time or room for fresh in its true sense.

Eating fruit or vegetables picked by yourself from where they grow is an ecstasy alien to the concept of the supermarket and is the price to pay for convenience they offer. Convenience when used in conjunction with supermarkets is not common hassle-free sense of the word, but a marketing term which ignores annoyance, hard work, time and expense which a visit to a supermarket involves.

I certainly don’t have the time or garden space or even the climate to grow all my fruit and veg, so the next best option is to purchase it from a greengrocer which sources as much local produce as possible. We are so fortunate to have Norman’s at 40 High Street, Ilfracombe, from whom we enjoy the best home-grown lettuces we’ve had for years, Braunton potatoes grown 10 miles or so up the road and a superb selection of other seasonal produce.

What’s more we can walk there and back (although they do deliver in town), so we save the wear and tear on our car and the cost our fuel spent getting to a supermarket and back, which makes the shopping bill lower even before we’ve entered the shop. Also, when we have had to use a supermarket in an emergency when we’ve forgotten something, the supermarket produce can be more expensive, so don’t believe the advertising spiel that they are necessarily cheaper.

It probably doesn’t take any more time than going to a local supermarket, but I think we eat much better. This is what real choice is.