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A Bowl Of Blackcurrants


For those of you who have been following such updates, the garden keeps on giving. For those of you new to the blog, I apologise, but you’ll see a lot of this.

This was from a quick whip around the blackcurrant bush – not bad for its first ever offering (this is a deceptively deep bowl by the way), and it should produce at least this amount again before August is out – next year, it ought to be producing twice as much again. My girlfriend says she wants to put this particular crop in a crumble – I’m good with this.

The vegetable patch is being extended, and I’ve found that the local recycling centre sells organic compost, or soil conditioner, for £3 a bag. I aim to be growing much more of what I eat over the next few months.

31
Jul 2010
AUTHOR Mark Newton
CATEGORY

gardening & foraging

COMMENTS 11 Comments
  • Leiali

    How come you haven’t got a composter or a wormery? We’ve had a composter nearly a year now but haven’t actually used anything from it yet. I’m not convinced it will come out as earth at the bottom as I only see the yukky, smelly stuff going in at the top!

  • http://markcnewton.com Mark Charan Newton

    I’d quite like one. One of the issues in a fairly small garden is that they attract slugs, which means they’ll head straight for the crop! I’m quite happy with getting the bags from the recycling centre, which isn’t far. Also, there’s not much space since the local council have issued three wheelie bins. It’s fairly crowded out back!

  • http://wisb.blogspot.com/ SMD

    This might sound like a stupid question, but what exactly do blackcurrants taste like? I’ve never had one before (to my knowledge).

  • http://markcnewton.com Mark Charan Newton

    Well, they’re like a jammy, sharp, more intense grape. More or less.

  • http://wisb.blogspot.com/ SMD

    Ah, okay. I imagine they’d be difficult to find in the U.S., so I’ll have to wait to try them the next time I’m in the U.K. Didn’t really know about them when I was there earlier this month…

    Thanks :)

  • http://www.djmorel.com D.J. Morel

    I just pulled a similar bowl of strawberries out of my backyard. Amazing! The homegrown type are red all the way through and stain the cutting board when you cut them in half, nothing at all like what you get in the supermarket.

  • Cora

    Echoing what Leiali has said, if it’s at all possible make your own compost.

    And if you have a slug problem, get some lager (the nastiest, cheapest stuff will do), pour it into a bowl or flower pot and bury the bowl with the beer near the crops. The slugs will be attracted by the smell of the beer, fall in and drown.

  • http://markcnewton.com Mark Charan Newton

    SMD – I think you have Blueberries as the king of such things out there. :)

    DJ – supermarket varieties of strawbs are, generally, good for yield, but bad for taste. Next year I have plans for a planter which can grow up to 32 plants! I’m going to have a few different varieties, so I get staggered fruit throughout the summer.

    Cora – I’ve tried that method and it was an epic fail! Not a single slug fancied a tipple. Instead, I’ve released nematodes into the environment, which seems to have done the trick, and use copper tape around certain containers. But I know there are more out there…

  • Rachel

    “Not a single slug fancied a tipple.”

    Just goes to prove that even slugs won’t touch Tesco Value…

  • http://markcnewton.com Mark Charan Newton

    I’m not using my good Bateman’s ale on them, no way.

  • Cora

    British slugs apparently are less keen on beer than German slugs then. At least our slugs are all too happy to drown themselves in the Aldi brand Maternus Gold. If you have an Aldi in your area and they have Maternus Gold (dreadful lager in plastic bottles), it’s worth a try.