Fruiting for four

 I don't mind admitting that I am a bit of a fruit addict, so you could say I am very much in the right job. However looking back this year to the time when the country went into a bit of a blind panic and we entered into lock down, Melv and I were thinking about ways to extend the fruit season to keep my addiction fed without having to frequent the supermarket. 

One idea was to use blue water barrels for our strawberries, for which we had everything we needed, (the barrels originally bought for the aquaponics, currently on the back burner), homemade compost and the strawberry plants from last year.

All we needed was a few hours to get them filled up, which took no time a at all, and after just a few weeks we were rewarded with the first flowers and small fruits.

These turned into be a great success and at the beginning of May - the 2nd, I harvested our first strawberry. Well now nearly 5 months on I can honestly say I have had strawberries for lunch every day - provided from 4 barrels of assorted varieties. Even now the berries are to be admired and taste delicious.

And more to the point the plants are still producing and there is still more to come.

Through the season, my lunch fruit bowl hasn't just been filled with strawberries, it has had black currants and red currants for company...

However, the other stars of the fruit assemblage have to be the raspberries, like the strawberries they have a long fruiting season. We have a number of different varieties that helps to extend this, for example the Tulameen fruit early...

Compared to the latest fruiting variety that we have - given to us by a friend and of an unknown type - but very tasty and very productive.

We also have a rather special variety, popular with The Sheppey Inn, as a way to introduce a bit of intrigue and surprise to their desert menu - the All Gold.

And the added bonus is that unlike many quirky fruit and vegetables we have tried to grow, they not only look good to help satisfy my lunchtime addiction, they also taste really good - what a treat.