One of the best things about fruit trees is seeing them begin to set fruit and imagining the bumper harvest that you will enjoy. The reality is always subject to possum attack, bird strike, storms, insects and so on and so forth. I love my cherry trees for that reason.
This year I intend sharing the cherries with friends and family. Not blackbirds!
At this time of year the fruit begins to plump up and I get excited. Last year the blackbirds somehow got through the net and so I ended up with very little. I am now intent on outsmarting them and making sure that this year will be different. Raspberries are the same. Tasmania is perfect for raspberries and together with luscious thick cream, they are a real summer treat but again subject to ability to out do the birds.
Nearly time to break out the cream. Raspberries coming.
The most amazing thing I’ve seen is a pair of rosellas that used to eat the cherries from my parent’s tree. They would go to the bottom of the net, one would hold it up, the other would walk through and take over holding it so that the first one could join him on the inside. They would merrily eat their fill then repeat the procedure to get out again!
Yes, raspberries are doing amazingly well here in Victoria as well. I have picked 15 so far this year, spread out over 4 weeks. They are slow ripening, Lots of rain has really given them a boost. And the bees are busy bustling around the raspberries: I wish they had been present in such large numbers when the plums were in flower, because I would have had a lot more fruit.
This will be my first crop of summer raspberries: I have tried them before but the plants kept dying when just a couple of months old. Last year I had autumn raspberries, which were wonderful.
As well I am looking forward to my first crop of boysonberries.