Currently harvesting: end of June 2015

Harvest on 30 June 2015

What are we harvesting every year at the end of June? The answer isn't straightforward. Obviously, it depends on the weather. I think two (?) years ago (in 2013?) it was very called in June, and the apple harvest that year was very plentiful and in September when we would expect it; however, a lot of other stuff didn't do well that year....
Even if you are a gardener, and if you are growing vegetables: you will know that what can be harvested at any time does not only depend on what you have sown (who would have guessed?), but also on:

• when you planted it? 
• whether you planted it from seed? 
• whether you got an established plant from a shop, nursery or plant supplier? 

but also on things such as:

• soil 
• watering 
• position in garden (and that does not only mean sun, but also whether it's shaded or whether there is even a "micro climate" - in our previous house we had a great, narrow garden which created a micro climate, especially on the tiny patio!)

Anyway, hence I'm starting a new series called 'currently harvesting', and the first official entry is for stuff harvested at the end of June 2015. We have been harvesting: gherkins, cucumbers, (3 colours of) currants, and a newcomer to our berry-lands, of which later.

One of so far 2 cucumbers this year

The mad thing is we could probably harvest a small punnet of black currants every evening at the moment, and that's despite us taking removing a number of currant bushes last year! There is only one white currant bush, so we are happy with the harvest there, and there are still too many red currants bushes - most of these in our fruit cage. The cucumbers are great - especially as it's hot at the moment, and as the Head Gardener doesn't like/eat them. Yum yum...

Oh, and the newcomer of the berry-lands this year is a berry whose name I could not remember so the following is a conversation between Head Gardener and Sub-Gardener; and it went like this:

SG: What do you call these new, small berries again?
HG: Juneberries.
SG: How do you spell this?
HG: As in "June" (the current month), and berries.
SG: Ohhh...
HG: Probably they are called that, because you can harvest them in June.

Ah well, they are quite small, have a red-magenta colour, and are sweeter than currants. So they look like smaller blueberries which are blushing a bit. I haven't taken a photo yet, but the Wikipedia article on juneberries shows some fruit too. Hopefully, we'll have more and slightly bigger berries next year - once the bush has had time to establish itself a bit more.

CHG