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.

Some seeds have arrived as well as some cuttings

Well I finally have something to plant as I received seeds recently from a gardener in Europe. Should be a nice addition to my growing orchard. Also received some cuttings in the mail which was quite a surprise. I have never been good at rooting cuttings so we will see how it goes.

I see too that T & T Seeds are marketing a couple of Russian varieties under new names but they won't identify which Russian varieties they are.

Not a lot new here

The newly planted seedlings are doing fine. Poorest growth is on the plants I bought from a garden centre! Seems too bad. I am waiting for seed from Russia but so far nothing has arrived. I am enjoying a good exchange of comments and thoughts with a new acquaintance in Poland. He has found several sources of seed which might work for me next year. Otherwise we wait!

New Things Happening

Well my honeysuckles are getting well established and I am impressed with how they are sending up new shoots. This is good! I need to find some kind of organic mulch before winter if I can.

Here are some pictures of Dewdrop tip cuttings rooting in peat pellets. Sure glad to see these roots. Maybe I can get them in the ground before winter.

I have also found a source of seed in Alberta as well as have had new contact from Russia. Hopefully these seeds will all make their way here. I have a new contact in Poland who is a home gardener as far as I can tell and this is the group I really want to draw on if possible. Sometimes people are lucky and find or grow a real winner! I am still trying to find someone with a collection of Dairy Queen take out sundae cups to use for starting cuttings.