And the berries became

A deep fried wonder!

We also had a pie and some fresh jam. They all passed the taste test. Slightly tart but very good flavor!

Last harvest taken and new seedlings are planted

Last of the new seedlings have been planted out and for the most part they look healthy. The wind was pretty hard on a couple and they broke off so I am trying to regrow them from cuttings.

I harvested the last of the Japanese planting and got about a litre and a little bit. Several plants have caught my eye and the fruit looks good. One is more rounded and the other tends to be large and shaped like a squished heart.

The enclosure

9 ft. bamboo poles hold up the "Deer fence" from Lee Valley to help keep the robins and Cedar Waxwings from eating the berries.

We got about 3.5 litres of berries from the first round of picking and there will be a small second round.

Several plants seem quite late as they still have green berries. Here are a few samples. The light was fading so the contrasting colors are poor.

It has been a long time but!

Just a few notes about how things are going.

Nearly all the Japanese plants had fruit this year. Some with very good size berries. Flavour is tending to be sharp but not bitter. Fruit set was limited and I am sure it was from lack of pollinators. The first picking of a serious nature was yesterday July 7th. Still a few to come and some plants with no ripe fruit. One plant in particular has very large fruit and another has a more rounded fruit.

I also have about 60 plants from Polish and Russian sources to plant out this summer. I find the seedlings tend to be very hardy all around. Looking forward to the planting.