Easier To Spot

Day 4: There are only about a dozen and a half kiwi berries left on the vine now, and with most of the leaves having fallen, they're easier to spot. All things considered, I've had a good harvest this year. Almost every day for the last two weeks, I've been able to snack on anything from 3-4 up to about 20, and all but one from the "Anna vine." With judicious pruning, I may be able to train branches of the male "Clark" into "Issai" in the hopes of better pollination. "Issai" made a single, significantly larger berry. The garden has been good to me this year, what with 32 figs, a ton of blueberries on the foot-tall "Jelly Bean" bush, so many raspberries that I've been inviting guests to eat them because the freezer is full, and of course enough gooseberries for a batch of jam. A chipmunk helped itself to the last couple of Akebia fruits and a few low-hanging kiwis before acquainting itself with the interior of my larger Havahart trap. I'm still jealous of people who can grow veg, but in the fruit department, I'm doin' okay.

Which Of These...?

Day 359: Which of these objects is unlike the others? Or more to the point, why is it different? I was not expecting to find a 1" diameter berry on my hardy kiwis when I went out to pick a snack yesterday, but now that the leaves are beginning to fall, it's easier to see the fruit. Yes, I'm still learning the Art of the Kiwi, and have discovered that the berries come readily off the vine when they're ripe, even dropping to the ground of their own accord. Last year, I figured out that they don't really start to ripen until the leaves begin changing colour. This year, I noticed that the stems of the fruit start to wither and turn brown to signal their readiness for picking. But what happened here? Where did the big berry come from? You may recall that I originally planted two "Issai" vines, purportedly self-fertile, but not very interested in doing their job. Consequently, I planted a male/female pair of "Clark" and "Anna" so that I would at least stand some small chance of getting fruit, and hoping that "Clark" might also fertilize "Issai." I think it did. I think this one larger fruit is from "Issai." Okay, time for a re-think. I will abandon my plans to remove "Issai" and will see if I can encourage a leg of "Clark" to intertwine with it. And I'm wondering if, as more leaves drop, I might find a few more "Issai" bonuses.

Kiwis Comin' On

Day 283: The kiwi vines are thoroughly entangled with each other now, so I can't say for certain, but I believe the only one producing fruit is the female "Anna." Obviously, the male I planted to go with it does not make berries, but although I had hoped it would pollinate the purportedly self-fertile third vine (Issai), I do not believe that vine is bearing fruit. That said, there are quite a few little green nuggets out there, mostly occurring in clusters like this one, and it looks like I'll have a pretty good harvest. It's been a learning experience. I thought I might have to buy a refractometer to check sugar content to determine when they were ripe, but after a couple of years of trial and error, I now know to wait until the leaves begin to yellow and drop. Makes the little berries easier to find, too!

Some Is Better Than None

Day 3: "Some is better than none." I use that phrase frequently when I gather less of a comestible than I'd hoped (usually mushrooms), or when I find myself with only a few inches of thread left from a project. This year, I got six figs, the first my tree has borne to ripeness. Likewise, I will have harvested exactly six kiwis from my small-fruited hardy vines when all is said and done. The first two were delicious! The remaining four will probably reach ripeness today or tomorrow. Some, albeit a scant few, is better than none. I think this tiny harvest was kept at a minimum by several factors, most notably spring weather which went from scorching hot to freezing, cycling between the two for the better part of April and May. The vines produced only a few flower buds and even fewer flowers. That said, the fruits which did develop prove that the plants are indeed "self-fertile," but a lack of pollinators also played a major role in keeping berry production at a minimum. Maybe next year's crop will be better, but in any event, "just enough to fill my hollow tooth" is better than none at all.

A Measure Of Success - Hardy Kiwis

Day 357: Sometimes even small successes are cause for celebration. Yes, my horticultural efforts finally resulted in a micro-harvest of hardy kiwis, and I think the key to ripening them on the vine was a night just short of a frost. They are roughly the size of raspberries, and eminently juicy and sweet, perhaps surpassing their larger cousins (at least those available in the grocery store) for flavour. The chipmunks nibbled a few while they were still hard, but for the most part, most of what hung on the vine through the heat of summer was undamaged. There are still some firm ones out there, almost as many as you see here...a small beginning, but proof nevertheless that my purportedly self-fertile vines ("Issai") actually do make fruit without a second variety to serve as a pollinator.

Kiwis Coming On

Day 307: I'm almost afraid to say this, thinking of chickens counted before they're hatched, but it looks like I'm actually going to get some kiwi berries from my vines this year. The last few days of temps in the upper 90s have not caused them to drop. There are at least a hundred end-of-thumb sized fruits, about as large as they are expected to get on this variety. How long will it take them to ripen? That's what I'm trying to research this morning. So far, I've learned that they can be picked ahead of frost, kept in cold storage for up to six weeks, and ripened in four or five days on the counter. Ripe berries have black seeds, although they may not reach their full sugar potential until somewhat later. One grower recommends that they be harvested at 8 Brix, and that the sugar content can be measured by squeezing a little juice onto a hand-held refractometer. I think in this case, I'll put the science aside and just pop one in my mouth after they've begun to soften.

Kiwi Culture

Day 283: While I am certainly not going to get the bushels of kiwi berries I thought my vines might produce this year, I do believe the road to horticultural success is beginning to smooth out. I've learned some things: kiwi fruit need sunlight to ripen, the vines should be pruned three times a year, fruit comes on year-old wood. Pruning correctly is essential to a good crop, and that's where I've fallen down on the job. This winter, my vines will get a serious haircut to open them out, and then in the spring, I'll clip back branches which shade out the flowers. Once the fruit has set, more maintenance will be in order to expose the berries to the sun. Sometimes manuals tell you all you need to know. Other times, horticulture is a matter of experiment. After all, it took me almost ten years to figure out how to get a successful rooting from a slip of my contorted filbert.

Success Comes In Small Bites

Day 357: Success does not necessarily come to us in large measure. Sometimes it comes in small bites: tasty, but by no means a full plate. It has been several years since I planted two hardy kiwi "Issai" vines, purportedly one of the few self-fertile varieties on the market. I had great hopes for a crop last year, but what fruit had set fell to the ground when daytime temperatures went over 100 for several days in a row. The garden shed most of its berries then. The gooseberries and currants, only a day or two from full ripeness, fell to the ground in a juicy "rainstorm." I was able to salvage most of them for jam, but the kiwis were months away from maturity. But such is horticulture, and this year, I again had high hopes when the blooming season and the pollinators coincided. There were fewer flowers, quite possibly due to a cold snap and late-spring snowfall, but a few within the vine-protected interior of the arch trellis formed fruit. At one point, I think I counted 11 berries, several of which disappeared without a trace. Three weeks ago, one of those remaining felt slightly squishy when I pinched it gently. I picked it, popped it in my mouth, and was rewarded with a burst of kiwi flavour as potent as any encountered in a full-sized fruit. Yesterday, two more signalled their readiness to be eaten, and this time, I remembered to take a picture to document the story of this small but nevertheless enormous horticultural achievement.

Kiwi Berries!

Day 275: While watering the garden yesterday evening, I happened to raise my eyes from ground level and what did I see? Two kiwi berries, hiding deep among the foliage! If you'll recall, our 100-degree hot spell caused hundreds of potential fruit to drop before it had begun to swell, at a point where I could not say for certain whether fertilization had occurred. Purportedly, this variety of Hardy Kiwi ("Issai") is self-fertile, but I have never gotten fruit from either of two vines. I'd hoped that this year it would produce a crop, having bloomed at the same time pollinators were on the wing. Those hundreds of little kiwis showed enormous potential, but then the heat wave hit, and even the gooseberries and currants shed most of their fruit. Fortunately, both were close to ripe and I was able to salvage enough for a batch of jam (I picked the few remaining late ones last night). The kiwis, however, were a sad failure. No bigger than a pencil eraser, they dropped from the vines like a sudden green hailstorm. Had they all developed, I'd have had enough kiwi berries to feed a small army. When temperatures cooled down, I did a visual inspection and found one berry sheltering under the dense foliage at the peak of the arch trellis. That solo berry is still hanging on, and these two make it a trio; maybe not enough for a snack, but scientific evidence that Issai is self-fertile after all.

Vine Fruit

Day 295: Fruits of the vine! I thought I'd lost all my kiwi berries to the varmints, but I discovered two which had escaped predatory notice. I am sure the only reason they remained on the vine is that I removed Doogie Squirrel from the equation and haven't seen any of his kin since I relocated him to Mineral. I'm not sure how to tell if they're ripe; currently, they're hard as little rocks. As for the grapes, I've given up trying to prune them according to the book. I just let them go last year, and this year, it looks like I may have a record harvest if I'll just get out there and put the net up. The Steller's Jays prefer grapes a bit on the tart side and invariably pick them a day or two before my human taste buds consider them ripe. Grapes, of course, are best after a light frost has set the sugar, but even a light freeze will cause the bunches to shatter at the slightest disturbance. These are Interlaken, a seedless variety which tastes very similar to Concords. I've never tried to make jelly with them because the vine has only produced one good crop in thirty years.

The Fruitful Garden

Day 261: I am excited! The flowers are fading on Hardy Kiwi "Issai," and little kiwi berries are starting to develop. I planted two vines just this spring, so I'm not expecting much of a harvest. However, the description for this variety claims that each vine is capable of producing up to 100 pounds (POUNDS!) of grape-sized fruit at maturity. I will be happy if they just grow to cover the trellis and provide me with vine-ripe snacks when I'm working in the yard. Issai produces a fuzzless berry with a flavour identical to that of full-sized kiwi fruit. Just pop them in your mouth and enjoy!

Fruit Of The Future

Day 4: Ah, there is a new fruit in my future! While in Chimacum, I visited the farmers' market and picked up a small basket of kiwi berries. This fuzzless version of the kiwi you find in grocery stores produces a grape-to-walnut sized fruit which I could argue is even more flavourful than its larger cousin, and the berries have no little gritty seeds as far as I can tell. I was pleased to discover that not all varieties require both male and female plants (I had visions of hand-pollinating again on a much larger scale), but hardy kiwi "Issai" is self-fertile! A larger yield can be achieved by planting two vines, so that's the plan for spring 2018. Cold-tolerant even in Zone 4 (I'm in Zone 7), they'll need a trellis or an arbour, and I know exactly where I want to put it: straight toward the crow board from the kitchen door.