Garden Journal - The First Loganberry of Summer
It's finally happened ! This year has been a tough one for our fruit and vegetables. We had a cool, wet spring, and temperatures have been consistently about 5 degrees cooler than they should be for the last couple of months. It felt like summer was never going to arrive in the UK. I blame the sunspots....
Finally, this week we've seen proper sunshine instead of the constant cool, overcast weather that has been the norm for the last month or three. At last, the loganberries have started filling out and ripening, about 3 weeks later than they usually do, and we had our first one of the year yesterday !
Here it is, freshly washed in a bowl, ready for my wife to eat 😀
This is one of the loganberry stems, over our compost bed. The photo was taken this morning, and there are already a few more berries ripening nicely.
Loganberries are a hybrid between blackberries and raspberries, and I reckon they're nicer than both of those. The berries are larger than raspberries and deeper in colour, with a richer, sweeter taste.
The problem is that when they ripen, they really need to be picked and eaten that day. They don't store or travel well, which is why you won't find them in supermarkets (other than turned into jam !)
Here's a shot along the fence - you can see a good number of berries, but more are lurking under leaves and in the undergrowth.
The photo above shows our white currants. It's a strange plant this one ! I planted this and a red currant bush when we moved into the house. The red currants were killed when an over-enthusiastic friend tried to help in the garden and pruned them down to ground level, but the white currant bush has thrived. Even if the pigeons did eat the whole crop last year, which is why we put a cage around the bush !
White currants are supposed to be sharp and acidic to the taste, but the ones this makes go a kind of pink colour, and are really, really sweet. The first few should be ready for harvesting by the end of the week, and I'm really looking forward to it !
All photos by me
That loganberry looks delicious bro. But like I'm looking at it and if someone said "Yo RingMaster that's an Alien" I might believe bro hehehe !LOLZ . Anyways it's amazing how the weather affects crops like that. I hope the rest of your garden continues to thrive despite the challenges bro
Thank you ! Yep, they're my favourite soft fruit. My grandmother used to grow them (and everything else - they were pretty much self-sufficient), and one of my favourite childhood memories was going to the country to stay with them in summer and having huge bowls of strawberries, loganberries, red, black and white currants and all kinds of other freshly-picked fruit all smothered with sugar and cream.
Everything is so much nicer when it's home grown !
You're absolutely right brother, homegrown is the best one
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STOPThis loganberry is somehow looking like a strawberry. I’ve never this Loganberry before though but I’m glad I saw it and learned it from you
Thanks for sharing!
Greetings @alonicus ,
What no gooseberries....
Lovely photographs of the berries..which are coming right along....thank you for such a special post!...with regards to your first Loganberry...Congratulations! ^__^
Kind Regards,
Bleujay
Gooseberries... now that's a good idea ! I'll have to work out where to plant them, and then see if I can find the sweet red or white ones (definitely nicer than the "standard" sharp green ones the shops all sell) 😁
Oh, that would not be a problem. I would come and pick - and eat them in the same day, don't worry :D
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Congratulations of your berries! They look amazing!
Thank you ! We've had a nice sunny day today, so tomorrow I'm going to go out and pick all the ones that are ready 😀
Nice. That's going to be very satisfying!
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