Elderberries

[narmour]

The first elderberries are starting to turn here... only found 2 black bunches yesterday but more importantly scoped out a load of trees which I never knew about. It's looking good!!

What's the elderberry crop like so far where you all are?

 

[dracunculus]

I'm in The Fens north of Cambridge and we're getting a huge crop of elderberries this year. With the warm sun they're just starting to turn and will probably be ready to harvest in early / mid september.

The first blackberries will be ready by the weekend too - torn between making jam and wine with them, wonder which one will win? :lol:

 

[Duncs]

I went out yesterday to take a look how the Elderberries were doing, they were doing fine on Friday but yesterday the trees looked half dead and the green berries were all falling off. I don't think the recent heat has done them any favours.

 

[wilsoa1111]

im in scotland and i reckon i could still find some elderflowers i i tried, -seriously ripe already down there? i reckon i'll be using the reserve berrys in the freezer this year

 

[GREBO75]

Mid essex and they're looking really good here, though i think we need some rain in next week or so to really help them finish off. Most bunches here have 90% black berries but still a little tart. Most of the berries are much larger than the silly tiny things we had last year, so gonna be a good year I think.

 

[abbey_man]

Oxford, looks good this year but they have a long way to go before they are ripe, however if you are looking for stone fruit you are going to be lucky they are very thin on the ground(and the trees)

 

[GeorgeSalt]

Elderberries looking very good here (just a wee bit north of dracunculus). If the showers hold off at the weekend it will be a combined elderberry and blackberry foraging session. Mostly for wine and elderberry cordial.

I was in London yesterday walking along the Thames footpath heading downstream from North Greenwich. Lots of heavily laden sloe bushes in the ecology park and overhanging the path. Could be a plentiful bounty later in the year for someone local.

 

[narmour]

Elderberries looking very good here (just a wee bit north of dracunculus). If the showers hold off at the weekend it will be a combined elderberry and blackberry foraging session. Mostly for wine and elderberry cordial.

I was in London yesterday walking along the Thames footpath heading downstream from North Greenwich. Lots of heavily laden sloe bushes in the ecology park and overhanging the path. Could be a plentiful bounty later in the year for someone local.

I wonder what the excess baggage would be like on Easyjet for a couple of buckets of sloes....

 

[narmour]

Just picked 1.3 kilos from one of my elder tree haunts, there's at least 3 times as many berries still green and easily reachable on those trees plus I have another 3 locations with good trees. Looks like it's going to be a good year for elderberry wine!!

 

[GeorgeSalt]

Ripening seems a bit patchy this year, but the crop looks good.

We managed to get 1.5kg elderberries and 2kg blackberries at the weekend (a gallon elderberry and bramble already fermenting away in a FV). Checked on our favourite crabapple and it's looking very poor. Sloes are about, but not a bumper year. Plenty for what I need though. And on a really positive note, discovered two large patches of horeseradish I hadn't spotted before.

 

[artyb]

lots of elderebrries here... but next to no sloes...plum trees are bare as are some some apple trees :cry:
it may be down to the fact the wet spring stopped the bees from flying and pollinating the flowers... :hmm:

 

[alanywiseman.]

The elderberries here (glasgow) seem a bt thin on the ground. The later flowering trees are definetly a lot better though so fingers crossed i can make a wine or two out of them :pray:

 

[PD]

all wild fruits are going to be in short supply this year due to the " funny bloody weather we are having.had.
So bare that in mind when picking.... the wildlife animals,birds and insects depend on good stores of this to get them through the winter..... weve got Tescos etc.
and I do like my fruit pies made with wild berries they see me through the winter also.... but don't strip individual bushes bare move around a bit.

 

[narmour]

all wild fruits are going to be in short supply this year due to the " funny bloody weather we are having.had.
So bare that in mind when picking.... the wildlife animals,birds and insects depend on good stores of this to get them through the winter..... weve got Tescos etc. and I do like my fruit pies made with wild berries they see me through the winter also.... but don't strip individual bushes bare move around a bit.

+1 :thumb: I agree totally. My old man always taught me to leave the birds their share. Although they can take the ones we can't reach!!!

Sloes are looking alright here, I'll certainly get enough for a gallon of wine and probably a bit of gin as well. I found a new blackthorn hedge yesterday, which is by no means laden but is big enough for me to get my fill from.

EDIT: Just noticed this was my 100th post. That came around quick!! :

 

[Moley]

lots of elderebrries here... but next to no sloes...plum trees are bare as are some some apple trees :cry:
it may be down to the fact the wet spring stopped the bees from flying and pollinating the flowers... :hmm:

I think March / April were mostly dry and quite warm so things blossomed early, then we had some bad frosts which fecked everything up.

Last tear I had about 20lbs plums off the tree in our garden and a few more from my mother's. This year I got about 10 - that's plums, not pounds.

Our apple tree (eaters) is fairly loaded but the Bramley tree I usually raid to go with them is bare.

Damsons, nil.

Might take the boat out for a chug tomorrow to look for blackberries or elders, best pickings are always on the ‘wrong side’ where most people can't get to.

 

[fbsf]

Everything is poor down here in the we(s)t country. My apple tree has zero, the local sloe trees are empty and there are precious few elderberries and brambles worth talking about.

Last year everything was laden.

Looks like I might have to resort to using that half-price WineBuddy CabSav kit I nabbed from tesco a few months ago. :?

 

[cf.]

Everything is poor down here in the we(s)t country. My apple tree has zero, the local sloe trees are empty and there are precious few elderberries and brambles worth talking about.

Last year everything was laden.

Looks like I might have to resort to using that half-price WineBuddy CabSav kit I nabbed from tesco a few months ago. :?

Went out the other day blackberry's few and far between no elderberry's yet down in Devon but dad reckons his bushes down the allotment will be ok come end of September . A few sloes but another month or so for them but I still have over 3Ib in the freezer from last year and off to Spain next week so will have to see what price the gin is out there

 

[artyb]

the weather had played havoc with growing things this year.. :?
the price of carrots has rocketed, spuds next ...

 

[Moley]

Went out the other day, blackberries few and far between, no elderberries yet down in Devon

Calendar was totally bolloxed last year, you shouldn't be able to pick blackberries, elderberries and damsons all on the same day.

Around our way, blackberries are starting to crop now. We have a domesticated variety with no spikes which was bought 3-4 years ago for a couple of quid from Aldi or Wilkinson's as a single plant but which is rapidly taking over one side of the garden, spreading by about 2 metres a year. The fruits are large and luscious and this year it's absolutely loaded.

My mother's raspberry canes are also cropping heavily at the moment.

Elderberries are looking plentiful but won't be ready for another 2-3 weeks.

Rosehips (cultivated variety) are in abundance too.

Next door's grape vine, which also trails and fruits over our side of the fence, is turning triffid.

Stone fruits - SFA.

 

[cf.]

I don't believe in global warming but something is happening to the weather can't remember last time we had a summer . Seemed when I was younger the school summer holidays was wall to wall sunshine It must of rained but I can not remember it