But - there is always a flip side - and with us it is the beginning of another crop - BLUEBERRIES!! These remain as popular as ever! Despite having been around a few years now - they still feature regularly in magazines - and are considered by some people to be the greatest thing since sliced bread!
I personally would not go that far - but they certainly do taste great in the famed muffin!! We grow several different varieties - from the compact evergreen 'SUNSHINE BLUE' to the upright 'HERBERT' through to the old but popular variety 'BLUECROP' - they are now starting to ripen. We find they pretty much look after themselves - their only requirement being an acid soil or container of ericaceous compost - and some protection from our feathered friends - who do not care whether they are in a muffin or not - and just scoff the lot!!
Wow - doesn't this photo of a blueberry muffin make your mouth water?? Sometimes a photo never really seems to do something justice - but this one captures the very essence of a tasty muffin!!
Just look at that lovely moist centre!!
I really must stop - and concentrate on something else that we have had a bumper crop of here at the nursery this year - and that is MULBERRIES!! So many people have never tasted a mulberry - let alone seen a tree - but they are one of the most under-rated fruits going. You can get black and white varieties - and if you have the space it is one of those quintessentially english trees that you must have!! (The photo below is of BLACK MULBERRIES). They have a strange sort of dry texture - very sweet in the white form - a larger fruit in the black - you always know when they are beginning to ripen - as the trees will seem to rock backwards and forwards with the weight of blackbirds attempting to feast on the crop! We have a pair - who I swear check the fruit every day from late July onwards!! - they certainly frequently beat me to the first ripe fruit - just leaving a little purple 'stain' on the ground below the tree to inform me of their skill!!
Ah, well such is the joy of fruit growing. You know what, that muffin picture has made me peckish - it's time for tea!!
Until the next time then,
RICHARD
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