Harvesting here we come!

Much of today was taken up harvesting and sampling the fruits of our labour, literally and metaphorically! The moment we have all been waiting for came when we noticed that our lovely damson and plum trees (and possibly some plum / damson crosses) are nearly ripe so we need to start planning for a proper harvest in a few weeks. Unfortunately, the crop is so huge this year that a lot of the trees are breaking their branches despite us thinning them over the last few weeks. We thinned them again, taking any soft fruit and fruit from branches that looked most likely to break. We'll make jam and chutney with these ones. Hopefully next week they will be wonderfully ripe so we can enjoy lots of fresh fruit, as we have some groups coming to see us who will enjoy that.

We had a bit of fun with one plum with a smaller twin plum attached - now known as "nosey".

Dan with new friend, Nosey!

Elsewhere, we found that there were lots of vegetables ready, including cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces, radishes, kohlrabi, courgettes, calaloo, carrots and broccoli.  There have been wonderful reports regarding the cucumbers, radishes, lettuces and broccoli across the Groundwork office!



Here we come a-harvesting!



Tracey and Khaled also managed to take some veg to the Acorn Day Centre to let the folk there have the chance to get some really fresh veg.



Khaled guards the produce!



Sadly, however, it had been found that foxes had attempted to uproot the sweetcorn plants to see if they were ready to eat.  Most plants escaped unscathed, although Tracey has been forced to create makeshift protective cages out of wire, bamboo and willow.  We hope that this will have been successful in preventing further attacks!

In addition to harvesting, other tasks included the usual watering, weeding and plant maintenance such as re-tying the tomato plants, as well removing side-shootings to keep them in check. The Brandywine tomatoes especially are looking like triffids, and as their fruit can weigh up to a pound each, we will have to make efforts to help the plants hang on to them.


 Helene has offered to water next week while Tracey is away, so everything should be in good hands.