Time to spot the sloe bushes

[Jeanied]

Now is the time of year to spot where there are sloe bushes - the blackthorn are the first of the hedgerow bushes to flower in the spring so look for the bushes covered in little white flowers. Make a mental note, and go back in late summer / early autumn for your sloes.

[bearded bloke]

Great post Jeanie,nice timely reminder

Being an old git,my memory is not that good so I keep a small digital camera in the glove box ,it is way more reliable than my mental notes

[PyreneesPlot]

Yep, ours are just about to pop!
It was a very good season down here last year so the gin is stock piling...

[wizzbang]

Is it the only thing with little white flowers on at this time of year? If so then there are a few bushes in the new garden. I haven't had a chance to look at them properly, just spotted little white flowers on a leafy bush. Not 6' tall like sloe I have seen before but about 4' x 4', nice bright deep green and tiny white flower clusters. Might be something else. I wont be using the sloe for gin, ewwwww, booze. Yuck lol..What else can you make with it?
Lynne x

[Jeanied]

Some of the Japanese cherries are in bloom as well. The sloe bushes have quite vicious thorns on them which is the sure way to tell, all year round. Makes picking them a pain too!
Last year ... or was it the year before?... I made sloe and crab apple jelly - yummy!

[wizzbang]

Some of the Japanese cherries are in bloom as well. The sloe bushes have quite vicious thorns on them which is the sure way to tell, all year round. Makes picking them a pain too!
Last year ... or was it the year before?... I made sloe and crab apple jelly - yummy!

Thanks for that, I'll have a closer look at them next weekend.
Now jams and jellies I DO like - guess who will be picking sloe and the crab apples this year lol.
Lynne x

[VirginVegGrower]

Good one Jeanied - I saw one yesterday in a community garden - it was a corker!

[chris]

Thanks for the reminder

[KittyColdNose]

A bit of research later...
...I have found that there are apparently tons for the picking a bit away from us, and also elderberries about 10-15 min away. Yippee

I can feel a jolly to scope them out coming on - when the snow goes away that is.

[SarzWix]

Ours are barely budding as yet, but I don't have to go far to find them cos I planted a dozen as a hedge on my plot Canal banks are good places to find them though, and elderberries and brambles too

[KittyColdNose]

We have loads of wild raspberries on our quiet road and what I think are cloudberries... maybe. Oh, and the stream in front of them was deeper than I realised. A giggling 7yr old helping you up when yer foot is up your bottom makes for amusing stories when handed back to her mum.

Moral - be careful when foraging

[bearded bloke]

Moral - be careful when foraging

Or "I read Red Thorn's sig"

[starloc]

most of the red cherry plums are flowering in Runcorn, as well as the sloes

[lettucegrow!]

Good idea, I need to locate a new supply. The last couple of years haven't been brilliant where I normally collect from. They do make lovely jelly, I made one with some some other fruit before, can't remember what but it was delicious!

[Jeanied]

It is that time of year again folks - time to spot the white frothy bushes as you are walking / driving by!
Make a note of the location and re-visit in late summer to check on progress - you don't want to miss those sloes now everyone is getting in on the sloe gin act!