Berried treasure in the garden (From York Press)

Berried treasure in the garden

9:57am Saturday 24th September 2011 in Gardening By Gina Parkinson

Autumn berries provide colour for the eye and a feast for the birds, writes GINA PARKINSON.

THE garden is big with berries this September. Apples and plums have been and gone; our young apple tree providing a couple of handfuls of fruit, the plum tree rather more.

The latter was thinned out last year, the result being a smaller crop; but even so we have had plenty for crumbles and pies and a delicious Delia plum ketchup.

Now the garden is providing a feast for the birds with a rowan tree, pictured left, soaring upwards to a clear blue sky, clusters of orange berries complementing the colour beautifully.

As we fall into cooler autumn days, the tree will be visited by blackbirds and pigeons, which will strip the fruit. Looking upwards we can, for a transitory moment, enjoy the sight of this lovely tree as it bears the results of a summer growth, keeping this picture in mind when the berries and leaves have gone and the tree is silent in its winter dormancy.

Plenty of shrubs are fruiting at the moment. Berberis and cotoneaster, honeysuckle and snowberry bejewel hedges and borders. It is cheering to see their colours, shiny reds and oranges offset by the white pearls of the snowberry; especially because as herbaceous perennials fade the sad realisation comes that another summer is over.

In our front garden there is a good mix of fruiting shrubs including many of the above mentioned, as well as holly and Chaenomelis, or Japanese flowering quince.

I was glad to spot this in the spring, not having had space to grow one before. It was a little hidden by other shrubs but seems unbothered by this, producing a good show of large flowers that have, we recently discovered, been followed by golden yellow fruit.

It seems to be an unfussy shrub that will cope with all but the most alkaline soils and in sun or deep shade. The flowers appear in early to mid spring in shades of pink and red or sometimes white, according to the species, and the fruit is edible although apparently not as sweet as that of a true quince.

In both cases the fruit should be picked when it comes away easily from the branches; it will still be hard. The crop can be used to make jellies and jams as well as a traditional Spanish preserve called membrillo.

I don’t think our few fruit will be enough for such efforts so we will leave it for the birds.

Weekend catch-up

WE HAVE a few birthdays in our family at this time of year and will be having relatives around to celebrate my youngest’s eighteenth shortly. So it is a good excuse to get the summer pots emptied and filled with autumn-flowering plants.

The best and longest lasting for instant colour is cyclamen which will flower for weeks in sun or shade. The colour palette is limited to white and shades of pale to deep pink and red, but they are readily available and will with luck look neat and cheerful until the end of October and into November.

They can be grown as a single species or mixed with variegated ivy and violas or small ornamental cabbages for something a little different.

In the veg patch

OUR first leeks were eaten last weekend. Planted in late June, the tiny plants have grown large with big fans of leaves topping white underground stems. They were delicious, sweet and tender and pulled from the garden, cleaned, cooked and eaten within an hour or so.

This first crop will be consumed over the next few weeks, while a second crop which was planted at the end of August will hopefully be ready for Christmas lunch.

Organic workshops

THERE will be four Saturday workshops in November for gardeners new to organic fruit and vegetable growing or for those wanting to improve their knowledge.

The workshops are to be held at Acomb Library on Front Street and will run from 9.30am-12.30pm, each costing £20. For more information or to book a place contact West York Adult Education 01904 555530 or the enrolment office 01904 552806.

The dates are as follows:

• November 5: Getting Started
• November 12: Knowing and Growing Organic Vegetables
• November 19: Knowing And Growing Organic Fruit
• November 26: Greenhouses/Polytunnels and Undercover.

Garden talk

Tony Chalcraft, of York Organic Gardeners’ Association (YOGA), will give a talk entitled Everyone Can Grow an Apple on Friday, October 28. Starting at 7.30pm, the talk will be at York Environment Centre, St Nicholas Fields, Rawdon Avenue, York. Tickets are £1 on the door, free to YOGA members.

Gardening TV and radio

Sunday
8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank, Matthew Wilson and chairman Eric Robson are at Avebury Manor in Wiltshire. There is also an update on the Olympic garden in Stratford.

Friday
3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Chairman Peter Gibbs and panellists Chris Beardshaw, Bunny Guinness and Christine Walkden help gardeners from Colne in Lancashire. Anne Swithinbank looks at growing and processing natural dyes and there are also ideas for autumn colour.

8pm, ITV1, Love Your Garden. Alan Titchmarsh looks for the perfect cottage garden in Staffordshire, Valentine Warner discusses edible weeds and Charlotte Uhlenbroek explores wildlife hibernating spots.

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners’ World. Monty Don, Carol Klein, Joe Swift and Rachel de Thame find out how differing climates affect plants grown at four RHS gardens in Devon, Essex, North Yorkshire and Surrey.