It's that time again

[barboo]

Morning all,
Well it's sunday and ive just returned from our daily walkies,
Now the daily garden inspection (cup of coffee in hand) has been done and the orchard has wind falls falling on a daily basis so for me it's that time to pick them up and get them off the grass,
Ive 8 verious apple and pear tree's hence we've plenty for our own use and the wild life have their share so the wind falls go on the compost heap,

As for plums/cheery and peach, they dont get much chance to go to the compost as between the birds the dogs (one dog "Henry" loves plums) and the wife !!:
The lot gets used,
We've no shortage of frozen crumble's /home made jams by the ton, and it makes nice gifts when the jams are all labled and the lids covered with nice paper lid covers, "looks really country style"

Now's a good time to go blackberrying,
I noticed as we came up the track the bushes are full of nice sized juicy black berries
just waiting to be picked (another reason to make more jam) just cant beat that home made taste.
Another reason i like to get the wind falls off the ground is because of wasp, they seem to like to eat the fruit and the chances of the dogs getting stung are reduced if they're removed.
Well have a nice one.

[Mo]

It's that time for us too.
Most of our Victoria plums ripened while we were on holiday, I'd jammed and frozen enough before we went, so I put some on Freegle & Freecycle and 3 couples have been picking and there are still some left for another. But I go out and take the rotten ones away and pick up the ripe fallers, take them to dance club for other jam-makers.
I always picked up all windfall apples too to stop them rotting on the ground, but them I wondered if the wasps would attack ripe fruits on the tree if there were no ripe fruits on the ground, so I only pick up the usable and the really rotten and leave a few piles as a decoy. We don't have a dog, and I pick in gloves.
I use a ladle on a broomstick to get the windfalls, a plastic bottle on a pole for the high ones.
We had a serving of bramble & apple the other day - we didn't intend to have a bramble plant growing out of our holly hedge, but they win if you relax guard, so may as well enjoy the benefits.

Keeping the orchard clear and picking those that are ready is a full time job just now.