Usually by this time of year we will have picked buckets and buckets of cherry plums and I would be madly cooking & freezing.
Not so this season. Because the season is a good three weeks behind normal, the plums have only just started to ripen here and there -and the birds have found the trees and are stripping them bare. I am a bit sad about that – plum jam is my morning staple! My Dad loves it too and I enjoy keeping him well stocked up with it!
All previous seasons I have had a good relationship with the birds. We get our fill, then the clean up crew come in and take care of the rest – even the mess on the ground!
Sadly they are eating everything in sight, and most of it isn’t even nearly ripe! Is it churlish of me to heartily wish them all a massive stomach ache?
I think I have one more frozen container of plums residing in Ruby’s freezer (leftover from when we couldn’t fit anything else in ours!)
I will just have to console myself with copious amounts of raspberries and strawberries. (I picked 2 & a half kilos of raspberries yesterday (5.5lb)) and this evening I picked 1.2kg of strawberries (2.6lb)
I picked a lot more of my garlic today too – I was actually out there bandicooting potatoes for tonight’s dinner but then got side tracked pulling up more garlic. Some small ones in there but mostly a reasonable size! I love having garlic again!
Hope your day was great!
Cheers!
Sorry about your plums and those pesky birds. We usually get the birds in the fall of the year and the bare trees will be full of them in the evening when they go to roost. They eat the grubs out of the yard which is a good thing. Looking out the window this morning at snow everywhere. We got 8 inches of snow Friday night into Saturday morning. Today is Tuesday and I am finally going to be able to drive out. The temperatures have been below freezing since the snow fell and everything is icy. I drool over all your wonderful produce and fruit. The best I can do these day for fresh is from the grocery store. Take care.
Brrrrr – sounds pretty cold where you are now! Bet it looks pretty though! I’ll try to keep up with the summery photos – give you something to look forward to! 🙂 Take care driving in those conditions!
Bandicooting?
Bandicooting – digging up potatoes without digging up the whole plant. I just scruff around carefully and take out suitable ones for dinner and leave the plant to keep producing.
Bandicoots are cute little Australian digging animals.
Thanks so much for the info Lisa.
You’re welcome. Will have to get a photo one day of them… Hard to spot and photograph!! 🙂
Dear Lisa,
You sure do have a green thumb! Seems like your garden is taking off and producing so much. 2 questions — what is the temperature in the day and do you have to water often? Sorry to hear about the birds — I have slugs that devour my strawberries before I can!
Thanks Teri! Things are finally going pretty well! Most days we are in the low to mid 20’s (68-77F) but it feels a lot warmer than that. On the mainland at the moment, the temperatures are reaching the 40’s (104F) The wind also dries things off a bit. I tend to water properly about every second day… just depends on how dry things have become.
I need to water the hothouse daily – sometimes twice a day.
Slugs are pesty!! Disappointing to lose your strawberries! I lose more in the early part of the season, then they tend to slow down as the weather heats up – or they get sick of eating strawberries! haha. I am now losing very little of what I pick which is nice! (I planted a lot though… )
I know your frustration with the birds. We are over run with deer, squirrel & armadillos. Between the three I’m seriously considering not planting much of anything in our garden this spring. I’ve been fighting a losing battle for so many years.
That would be hugely disappointing to lose all your hard work to the wildlife! Its such a big effort to fence and net things effectively too. We are lucky that so far the possums haven’t raided the vegetable gardens. They get a bit of fruit, but nothing like the birds this year! I think the chickens have done the most damage overall! haha…. lucky they produce eggs and entertainment!
What do armadillos eat? (Anything they want? haha) or do they just dig things up? I think they are cute, but probably not cute in the garden. Same with squirrels. We have neither here. (We have deer but usually they are farmed so wild ones are not likely to get into our gardens.) I hope you find some ways to get some produce to keep!