Fruit

[igenlode]

I have had two pickings of strawberries (of a handful of berries each), with more to come; the multiple runners I planted up a couple of years ago have finally started putting on a decent amount of growth this spring, possibly because it was so much warmer. I have also picked and eaten (uncooked) the first pods from the dwarf peas -- they had plumped up while I wasn't looking, but were still amazingly sweet eaten raw, pods and all. It might be worth growing these again if the seed is still viable next year. I have had several pickings of pea-shoots from the pot that I planted up very thickly for that purpose, and they are about finished after having had their tops cut off repeatedly. Weirdly, that pot now seems to contain several nasturtiums which I definitely did not put in there, and don't remember seeing germinate! One 'spare' pea plant that I tucked into the corn-marigold pot has survived the competition there, and even produced a couple of tiny pods.

The feathery (and rather invasive) thing in the wildflower trough has finally opened its flower-head fully and demonstrated that it definitely isn't corn-chamomile, or anything else that I have sown previously. It has clusters of unscented white umbellifer-flowers. I shall need to root it out at the end of the year, as it is too tall and dominant for my purposes. I was only really keeping it to see what it was going to turn into. The plant at the other end of the trough has white and yellow daisy-type flowers and dagged leaves, and I have seen them growing locally in people's gardens, which is doubtless how it got into mine -- this one is also too tall for my environment, since it is reaching the washing line! Both plants are thick with blackfly, which I am tolerating there but attempting to keep clear of everything else.

The first flax is in flower. I have had a lot of trouble with it flopping this year, and ended up tying it to a supporting stick, even though I didn't feed the plants. They have grown very tall and quite possibly suffer from lack of water. The towel-tomatoes are now flowering, even though they aren't yet in their full-size pots (or really of a size to be).

I have managed to give away six marigolds, have potted-up three, and still need to deal with a couple more badly overcrowded pots!

Comments

[megastalin]

Those strawberries look nice. My family used to grow them commercially. I remember going into the city, with big baskets of strawberries to give out to my friends. That was always fun. I also remember my dad working very hard and obsessing over irrigation for strawberries. Proper irrigation is key to achieving first class fruits which fetch the most money (also taste the best).

[igenlode]

Yes, I really struggle to keep my strawberry plants adequately watered in a tiny hot roof-garden where the pots dry out so easily -- I have been trying to prioritise them when watering because I know that if the plants don't get enough water the fruits won't be able to swell properly. Although commercial strawberries tend to get accused of being 'over-watered' nowadays in order to produce giant fruits with little flavour...

[megastalin]

That's definitely true for most commercial strawberries. They make giant fruits that taste vaguely of strawberry lol. But with the selection of the right cultivar for the climate and soil and judicious but constant watering, you can achieve a relatively large fruit that still tastes good. These were the "first class" strawberries that mostly ended up in Russia. Russia buys most of Serbian strawberries, for some reasons I don't understand strawberries are really a big deal there.

[igenlode]

Ooops -- I found half a strawberry next to the pots this morning. I suspect the local rooftop squirrels have worked out what is available ;-)