June 30, 2008

It is, sometimes, hard to write these pages. It seems, as one settles in, things stop changing but, in fact, they don't. This week the air conditioner for the attic was installed, permanently, taking up one of the windows in the back.

This also means that come winter we simply cover the face of the air conditioner with some styrofoam insulation and shut the window. Opening the unit for summer will be equally easy!

Today was also an interesting day in the garden. We knew, because of a late frost, that we would not have a particularly good crop of cherries from the hedelfingen. We picked (probably) between 60 % and 75 % of the tree for a yield of 750 gr. It will be a few days more before the balance is ripe for picking. This will still leave the other cherry tree - which will be another two or so weeks before it is ready for picking ... and this tree will be the bigger provider this summer with possibly up to two or three kilos of fruit.

The strawberries yielded quite handsomely this year considering the limited size of the patch. We saw enough for several small bottles of preserve, almost two quarts of strawberrys for eating, a few strawberry snacks (fresh berries in gelatine) and one very well topped cheesecake

That would have added up to almost be almost five quarts of strawberries from our front lawn!

The lilies are now blooming and the cone flowers are starting as well. Of course we planted the walkway up with assylium again and it is filling in nicely.

The tomatoes look as though they will feed us very well this year and, of course, we mustn't forget the peach tree which we believe will give us its biggest year yet. We can't even imagine what we will see there with, literally, hundreds of fruit growing on it.

Finally, the apple tree ... we weren't sure what we would see this year but the granny smith portion as well as the macintosh is absolutely well endowed with fruit. Adding to the good news is the northern spy - showing fruit, this year, for the first time.

The back yard causes us to be quite optimistic as well. The raspberries will be absolutely abundant this year and the black raspberry seems nicely fruited. The first cucumber is up to 4 inches and growing nicely. The kiwi vine along the rear fence is covered in flowers.

We are hopeful of seeing fruit mature on it for the first time. Finally, the decorative flowers are quite ready to bloom - those that haven't already, of course.

Update - July 2, 2008: total harvest from the hedelfingen was 1.2 Kg (just over 2 1/2 lbs).

Click Here to return to the "At Home in Brantford" main page.