First Ripe Blackberries! But no Bullaces...

[SarzWix]

Wooh! I picked my first 3 ripe blackberries today, and they were whoppers! They grow along the back wall of the lottie and are looking well laden with fruit, but I was amazed to see some ripe already - it's not even August yet!

I'm hugely disappointed to see that my local thicket of wild plums (bullace) don't seem to have any fruit at all though. I wonder if that's down to the dry Spring we had? I think the birds will miss them, they usually hang on the trees for a lot longer than cultivated plums. I know I'll miss them - they substitute well for sloes in Sloe-Gin!

Has anyone noticed if sloes are suffering the same?

[Earthbabe]

Hi Sarzwix, The blackberries do seem earlier. I picked some about 10 days ago, still slightly sour but oohhh the potential.

We did a bullace check last week to. Miss EB's idea. There seemed to be a lot fewer than last year so much so that we decided (Miss EB and I) that it may be better to leave those that are there for the birds. I don't know why there are fewer than last year. It's an area that isn't touched much by anybody and you can just get down the path between the trees and the fence. Those that are there are slowly ripening.

I don't know what the state of play with the sloes is though.

[Headfry]

Bullace and pulm, tend to have a good year then a bad year, sloes can be the same!
next year will be much better.
Poor wildlife they will miss them!

[kentvegplot]

My damsons were heavy with fruit last year, this year hardly any. It may be the biannual thing, but we did have late frosts just as the flowers were opening too.

[SarzWix]

The trees were covered in blossom, so I was expecting to see a lot of fruit. I wondered if the super dry spell we had at the time stopped them from setting.
I'm a bit stumped for what to use for my sloe gin this year, as I've never found an actual blackthorn in this area, not even along the canal bank?!

[amandaandherveg]

We're still eating Bramble Jam I made last year, we've got some flowers starting to open on ours but we don't usually get any until September.

[Polly Fouracre]

No bullaces,damsons or plums this year is probably the hard frosts we had when they were in flower.

[Flummery]

The wild plums I used for jam last year have absolutely no fruits on. However, some of our usual sloe bushes are well fruited. The damson looks ok but not its best year.

[BarleySugar]

I was surprised to find ripe blackberries on the way to the local pub. I went down at 5am with a bowl and picked 750g. One blackberry pie and some blackberry ice cream. The pie was nice, the ice cream delicious. Hopefully there might be some more tomorrow, another early morning foray coming on! More ice cream methinks

[SarzWix]

I was surprised to find ripe blackberries on the way to the local pub. I went down at 5am with a bowl and picked 750g.

The first ones to ripen are always lovely big ones I had another dozen or so today, they're in the freezer along with the last of the raspberries waiting til I have enough to make Forest Fruits Jelly, yum!

[Two_Sheds]

Lots & lots & lots of bullaces (and sloes) picked today. I'm really pleased: last year the bushes were stripped bare before the fruits were even ripe.
I shall be making bullace vodka, bullace wine, bullace chutney & maybe bullace jelly too