I have said many times that I am no great gardener. I can try to keep things fairly tidy, but I do not know too much about plants or when to grow them. This is why I like plants that reliably provide produce every year. The various berries are good for this.
The strawberries have been good this year and are maybe a little early. I really ought to clear out all the old, dead leaves to give the snails and slugs less places to hide as they are getting a few. I have been hunting them down to reduce the damage. Our second patch is spreading out into the woodchippings that surround it, but that is okay.
The gooseberries are also doing well, but we do not tend to use many for cooking. The other bush has some that are dark skinned and can be eaten raw, but they are not ripe yet.
The blackcurrants are starting to ripen. They grow next to the raspberries that are not showing signs of fruit yet. I do cut those right back each year and they grow back fine.
The jostaberry bush is getting overgrown by a buddleia that has got massive and some brambles are creeping in too. I need to get those and use some netting to prevent the birds getting the berries. These will turn almost black and are quite tasty.
Not a berry, but the rhubarb can be relied on to come back every year. These plants are decades old and were there before we moved in.
I have only got a couple of beds with any new plants. The one at the rear had some garlic and now has carrots. The bigger one has a couple of runner beans and a brassica of some sort. I planted some beetroot and noticed them coming up today. Those should be ready fairly soon if nothing eats them. You can see the wandering strawberries here. They are a different variety to the other bed.
The greenhouse has not been used for much this year. Some panes blew out and need replacing.
We give away some excess produce to reduce the waste as we cannot use it all and are not too into preserving it. We just enjoy the fruit in season.
