A-brambling I Will Go

I have been keeping an eye on the brambles in the locality. They have been very late ripening this year. Last week it looked as if it would be worth going picking but the weather and other things had got in the way.

One of those other things was digging up all my second early potatoes. The foliage had started to die back all of a sudden, and when I got back from Leeds was looking decidedly brown and withered.

The potatoes did not seem to be affected. I kept filling the carrier bags while Paul was on rubbish bag emptying duty and was in charge of weighing (he brought the bathroom scales downstairs!) and transferring potatoes into the hessian sacks I had bought earlier this year. Seventy three pound dug up (at least as I think they under weigh), making a total of over eighty six pounds...

The King Edward main crop potatoes foliage has also died right back. I may dig up a plant just to check that the potatoes themselves are okay. If any signs of problems I guess I will have to clear them all out too. I should have ordered more sacks...

I also had another afternoon of runner bean processing. Seven pounds picked resulting in another four pounds blanched and in the freezer - those that were too big for the slicing gadget were put aside. Also another pound and a quarter of dwarf purple beans processed. At this rate I think we will be completely self-sufficient in vegetables. The cabbages are now coming in to play...

But this morning I took a window of opportunity when the sun briefly broke through to at last go brambling on the hill the other side of the bridge. I think I have missed the optimum harvest time - like a lot of things this year they are not hanging about and many just squidged in my fingers. However, I did pick just over a pound including wild life and hopefully will get some more later this afternoon from the verge up the hill from Margaret's.