We have a walled garden and it traps the sun, which has been just about uninterrupted here for more than a month. I have had to water them too (with a hosepipe pumped from the well in the kitchen, so no risk of a ban). I normally start picking in July and once I’ve taken 20lbs I quit. That’s as much as we can eat in a year and Mrs VB disapproves of the freezer being filled with them. So the birds get the rest, which they process and then return to us, depressingly often onto the laundry .
Here’s a very small sample of what’s left after today’s picking. In a few days the ones that are black now will be bigger and sweeter but not so squidgy that they split apart during the picking and/or washing.
On the receiving end of a ridiculous quotation for a kitchen and laundry installation that quite unmanned me and traumatized the domestic antipodean. We have yet to hear what new heating and hot water services and 3 new bathrooms and a downstairs loo will cost too…
I’m off tomorrow myself. Looking forward to it in a not-working-at-all and absolutely cuntishly lazy way. I may go into the office before the week is out, or may not…
We have a thorn-less variety that spreads about 20 feet each way. It’s well in flower at the moment so we are expecting a good crop. Janbald has already converted black currents into 5 lb of jam. We leave the rest for the birds.
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