365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Thursday, April 28, 2022
Jam On The Hoof
Day 197: If we can get through June without being pounded by a heat wave, I should have a bumper crop of gooseberries (left), more than in any year in the past. The red currants (right) are another story. I had to perform a radical pruning last year to try to eliminate an insect pest which I believe was introduced to my garden by nursery stock, so they are not bearing as heavily. Currants bear best on second- or third-year wood, and I had to eliminate many of those canes. In any event, I really only use the currants to fill out my gooseberry jam recipe, and from the census of gooseberry flowers, I shouldn't need any currant juice at all this year. Last year's crop has seen me through the winter, plus "wiggle room" for thickly spread toast. Both tart and sweet simultaneously, gooseberry jam is my hands-down favourite above any other fruit or berry preserve.
Labels:
currants,
gardening,
gooseberries
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