Time for Harvest

It's the time of plenty. What ever the weather has thrown at us in the Spring and Summer, there is usually a happy ending in some form for the farmers and gardeners. In this particular area there is a fine crop of Victoria Plums, although several have rotted on the trees, and the same applies to the apples. The exceptionally dry Spring seems to have had little impact on the fruit and vegetables, but the early summer rains have been more influential. On the positive side, apples, pears and potatos are very large this year. On the negative side, there are plenty of maggots in the apples and many are falling off early. The tomatoes are poor this year, but cucumbers are good. Onions, peppers and chillies are also good, so overall it has probably been a bountiful year. Crab apples are in abundance, so hopefully there will be a return of the Fieldfares this winter. Does it mean another severe winter? One thing for sure, the fruit and vegetables are products of the past weather, and NOT the future weather!