Picking your own fruits

You are doing better than here then. Even the elderberry are still small green hard fruits, but I have seen a couple of apple trees and pear trees in people's gardens that look like they are starting to ripen. Blackberries around here are still green and hard, raspberries have just finished. Honeysuckle berries are just starting now that the 2nd August flowering has finished - don't know if there is anything that can be done with them. Damsons have a long way to go yet - there are some local wild ones but you can't pick them sadly simply due to not being able to reach them. What else? Hawthorn I haven't yet seen and wild rose is not yet producing either. Sweet chestnut is a long way off too... :(
 
I guess I have picked some fruits as a child although I think I was pushed out of the way being the last of seven. What was fun for me was work for the others. I can remember us having lots of grapefruit trees and golden apple trees and others I can't remember right now. I remember a tree we used to get mammy apples from but I think elsewhere it's called something else.
Yesterday I picked some limes and want to find a way to pick them without being stuck all the time. I've had about one mango from a tree outside and this time around I am seeing three mangoes. Not sure who will get to pick them first, the birds or myself.
 
When I was a mere duckling, the house next to ours had a big greengage tree in the garden. Unfortunately for our neighbours and luckily for us, a good portion of the tree hung over our side of the wall and we used to scoff lots of greengages around August. I still love them, but these days I have to buy them.
 
I have just returned from a forage with two tubs of blackberries, some elderberries and apples. There are dozens of apple trees growing wild on a common area near where I live and they are all laden with fruit this year. Most of the apples are still small and not yet quite ripe, but I have already eaten some early ones which were juicy enough.
 
Don't want to put a dampener on all this [yes I used to go picking blackberries in the woods when I were a lad too] BUT avoid fruit close to a main road [not as obvious as you might think sometimes]. Up here there are many apple and pear trees near to lay-bys both police and ordinary on motorways. The exhaust fumes they collect can render them seriously unpleasant.
 
sidevalve said:
Don't want to put a dampener on all this [yes I used to go picking blackberries in the woods when I were a lad too] BUT avoid fruit close to a main road [not as obvious as you might think sometimes]. Up here there are many apple and pear trees near to lay-bys both police and ordinary on motorways. The exhaust fumes they collect can render them seriously unpleasant.
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Sad but true. The front of my house is South facing, but right on a main road. I'd like to grow herbs in the window boxes but my partner would refuse to eat them because of this issue. I must confess that at my age I don't think its going to make a lot of difference to my long-term health whether I eat 'Main Road' produce or not.:(
 
If I pick my own fruits, I want the grapes, blueberries watermelon and pineapple.
 
I love fruits and being born and raised in the city I seldom had the opportunity to pick fruits from the tree. My only recollection was my vacations in the province where I was picking guava. Now we have our own home in the suburbs and we have a fruiting mango tree, a fruiting star fruit, a fruiting dragon fruit, cashew tree, mulberry, banana that is already fruiting and small trees like macopa, sugar apple and magic berry. It's so nice to pick from the tree when the fruit is ripe and ready to eat.
 
morning glory said:
Sad but true. The front of my house is South facing, but right on a main road. I'd like to grow herbs in the window boxes but my partner would refuse to eat them because of this issue. I must confess that at my age I don't think its going to make a lot of difference to my long-term health whether I eat 'Main Road' produce or not.:(
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I live close to the main road myself, but my mango tree, lime trees and fig trees are are not that close to the road in my opinion. No berries and any of those other exciting fruits around here some of which I am happy to eat as main road produce.
 
I live in the city but there are places that around that charge a fee to allow you to pick your own fruit or vegetables, I have not tried it yet.
 
Blackberries feature in all sorts of folklore. Both Christian and pagan mythology ascribe all kinds of things to them. Christ's crown of thorns was said to be made of brambles and the berries, originally red, turned black. Celtic myth tells us that eating blackberries is bad luck and Lucifer was reputed to have fallen into brambles when cast from heaven. He then, according to which version you prefer, either trampled or urinated on them and continues to do so on Michaelmas Day, so if you pick them after September 29th, it's meant to be unlucky.
 
Oh man, how I wish berries are readily available here. I haven't tasted a real fresh berry ever. Ever.:( I envy those people like you who experienced picking their own berries. Ah, someday!

We do pick our own fruits here. Mangoes are readily available in our garden. We have green mangoes that taste very sweet. It's especially nice during summer time. We also have fresh coconut here. There are lots of coconut trees around our place. Guava is also another fruit easily obtained here. Our neighbour gives us free guavas whenever they're ripe.
 
It is fun and a novelty to go fruit or berry picking. There are commercial establishments around here where you can do just that. The problem is that when you do, you end up paying more than you would buying the same thing in the store. Consequently, it is not very cost effective to do. Unless you know someone who has fruit trees, or berries...or can pick them wild...you will likely be paying more for the privliege to pick your own.
 
Duck59 said:
Blackberries feature in all sorts of folklore. Both Christian and pagan mythology ascribe all kinds of things to them. Christ's crown of thorns was said to be made of brambles and the berries, originally red, turned black. Celtic myth tells us that eating blackberries is bad luck and Lucifer was reputed to have fallen into brambles when cast from heaven. He then, according to which version you prefer, either trampled or urinated on them and continues to do so on Michaelmas Day, so if you pick them after September 29th, it's meant to be unlucky.
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I picked a few blackberries this morning...no smell of sulphur or brimstone and no cloven hoof prints. Tasted OK.
 
As a tradition my best friend's family and mine go to a nearby strawberry farm and pick berries every Canada Day. Most year the berries are fantastic and we pick enough berries to make jam, strawberry shortcake and even strawberry daiquiris. It's so much fun to pick your own fruit and the kids absolutely love doing this, although I think my younger son eats more than he puts in the basket. We've also gone apple picking which was so much fun too. Our local apple orchard offers a nice tractor ride out to the apple trees and then you get to pick apples and try the apple products they have like apple butter, apple cider and apple crisp.
 
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