A Fruity Tip.

This is a little tip that I’m going to show you that makes life easier for me when picking fruit, Raspberries in particular. It doesn’t work so well with fruit that you pick while bending over, taller Black Currant bushes are another thing I’ve used it on with great success.

What I have in my hand is an ex-army ammo pouch.

This one clips on to my belt (which is covered by the shirt) that I wear all the time to hold up my trousers.

You could find something along the same lines to do the same job at a hiking store or similar. I like this one because I don’t need a separate belt also its pretty stiff canvas which as you can see doesn’t crush anything you put in there.

Then when you have it full all you need to do is take it off and tip the contents in to something larger and then set too and refill the pouch – hopefully many times over because I think most of us like our fresh soft fruits.

I’ve used this method for many years and find it handy not having to use one hand to hold a tray or whatever, it leaves both hands free for picking the fruit.

Fruit Garden (Week 28).

In the fruit garden we still have plenty of Raspberries coming on and then later there will be the Autumn ones as well. The ones you see in this picture are the main crop variety, or at least I think they are. I'm not sure because they are the original ones that were here when I came, since then I've added a row of earlies and a row of autumn fruiting ones. If you look closely in the picture you will also spot an early variety of bindweed that I have growing in that part of the garden.

Also ripe for picking at the moment are the Cherries, these are another addition made since I came here, I would like to add another tree on the north facing all sometime so as to spread the fruiting season.