Fig harvest
Help I can’t keep up.
And that’s not a boast. More a reflection on my poor time keeping.
After a month of the figs just hunkering on the branches suffering in the heat – they have ripened over the course of a weekend. That wondrous rain we had last week (only last week?) seems to have unclenched my entire collection of growing crops. We had two days with a total of about 60 mm. Just utterly glorious.
Dahlias? Suddenly in bud.
Annual flowers – alive and about to flower.
Courgettes, unrelenting.
Even the Swiss chard is looking juicy.
But that little fig tree in the corner hiding the compost bins. (And the resident snake).
Wondrous.
I don’t have time to make more than one batch of fig jam. Instead I will just batch freeze them for now. And when I get back from Other Chores, I will have a go at more chutney.
And one of the reasons I am so amazed this season about these figs… They haven’t been decimated by wasps or hornets. Has the heat slayed them all? Only a few have been chewed.
I normally have to wait until dusk to get near this tree. And even then I only pick those that are half munched. And I’m bound to cop a sting from a guard wasp keeping a close eye on its nest in the rock wall behind.
Not complaining! Just observing.
28th August 2022 @ 8:36 pm
I haven’t seen this post. I haven’t noticed the huge bowl of fresh figs left after making numerous pots of fig jam. Not to mention the freezer full of figs. But I am amazed and proud to announce that my outdoor potted fig has produced ONE ripe fig. It was eaten with all the reverence you might imagine. An historic event. I am totally sure it’s the first ever fig to have been grown outdoors and reached maturity in this village. One of the good aspects of global warming? And this morning I read that there are fruiting avocado trees growing in gardens in London, without protection.
29th August 2022 @ 8:14 am
This is the best and most momentous news of the summer! All hail the fig!! I am thrilled for you.