Plum Picknik

Everyone is invited to a, Plum /  Cherry-Plum / Mirabelle / Bullace / Greengage - Foraging Picknik (I don't care what they are all called, as long as they taste good). 

This event will take place this Sunday morning, in Avenue Park, Stoneham. Anyone who joins us, can also take in a visit to the lovely First World War shrine in the park.

The event is suitable for families or adults. The lovely plums here are plentiful, they taste great straight off the tree and would equally be great for baking, jam, chutney, pies, wine etc.

The Usual  (Plum) Suspects

Fruit pickers are handy, if you have them, but we can share and there will be plenty within reach or on the ground. You can always hold a blanket out and shake the branch. Bring suitable containers (buckets/baskets)  if you want to take some fruit home with you. It's always nice to bring some cake to share too.

This event will go ahead regardless of the weather ;-) so dress appropriately, bring a brolly in case or just come to see where the trees are and then come back when you have time.

Venue: Meet in the Cricket Pitch Car Park (almost opposite the Cricketers pub), Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh - mind the bollards if you're driving.
Date: Sunday 19th July - this Sunday morning.
Time: 10.00 am (plenty of time for the Sky Ride later)
Cost: It's all FREE!

N.B. This is a casual event, everyone is responsible for their own (and their children's) health & safety. 

Plucking Plump Plums

Plums come in a rainbow of hues and when ripe, they will drop from the branch, into your hand with the merest of touches.

Each variety will also have a unique shape and taste; they are sweet, flavoursome and very bountiful at the moment.

Our Plum Picknik was a great success but it was almost rained off by a sudden and heavy downpour. 

Fortunately, those that braved the unpredictable weather were treated with a sweet, brightly coloured feast. As soon as an actual rainbow was visible we scrambled off to the trees and quickly gathered a pretty hoard to take home.

Once enough fruit had been picked, we had a quick game of football/frisbee with the gaggle of children who had come along.

Then we rewarded ourselves with some delicious home baked plum muffins and cracked open some elderflower champagne to celebrate the first fruit of the year (we brought some of our ginger beer for the kids).

The elderflower champagne exploded in a somewhat potent manner, blowing the ceramic top clean off the bottle, it still tasted great though.

My daughter also spotted (and gobbled up) the first ripe blackberry of the season, a real bonus.

There are still bucket loads of plums in this area, if anyone would like to collect some. I aim to bring a few samples along to my Arthouse Cafe talk (if they have not already been scoffed). - This event takes place this Thursday evening, at 7.30, just in case you had forgotten.

Cherry Picknik Anyone?

Can't Reach These!

I went out for a walk around the area of Hedge End where we picked our cherries last time and was pleased to note that there were plenty more close by waiting to be gathered.

Big Sweet Red and Juicy

I also found a tree with some tasty larger cherries by the side of the path, so I decided to spend a little time seeing how many I could reach. It was a bit tricky because I had no picker and there were lots of stinging nettles but I grabbed a bagful anyway.

My Fruity Lunchbox

I also noticed on my rounds that baby hazel nuts are now visible, although not nearly ready for picking. That will have to wait a month or two yet.

A Nut Cluster 

However, the cornucopia of Cherry Plums, Mirabelle’s, Bullace, Greengages etc. (cue long list of different and confusing names) are looking bountiful and they look as if they will ripen in a week or two. Rest assured, I’ll be keeping my eye on them.

Pluckable Plums

Till then, if anyone fancies a Cherry Picknik in Hedge End (close to the railway station), please register your interest here, by email or on the Facebook, Mansbridge Community Orchard page.

The Tester Passes Verdict

Free Seasonal Tree id Sheets Ready

The Urbane Forager's Seasonal Tree id sheets are now available for free download in pdf format for easy printing. These very useful resources also feature in the Urbane Forager book, where they have been redesigned and updated. The Urbane Forager ebook also contains these sheets.

They illustrate and describe various fruit and nut trees through the four seasons for easy identification at any time of year.

Currently available, we have...

• Elder (flower and berry)
• Plum (many variations)
• Cherry
• Apple 
• Pear 
• Hazel 
• Walnut 
• Chestnut

Clicking on the appropriate links will enable you to look at or download the pdf sheets onto your computer and print them out at your leisure. Do repost them elsewhere if you want to.

Please give me feedback or add comments if you like them or think I could improve upon them.

Blooming Blossom



Beautiful Hedgerow Blossom



Spring is in the air at last, and it looks like it might be early this year. Daffodils are showing their bright yellow faces by the roadsides and you will begin to notice the hedgerows filling up with the beautiful, snowy haze of blossom.



Plum Blossom Heralds in the Springtime

This busy bloom is the flowers of the blackthorn (sloe is the fruit) and plum trees. It can be difficult to tell the two apart at first (they both belong to the same family) but the blackthorn has long sharp thorns on the branches and trunks, so the clue is in the name.

To Distinguish between Plum and Blackthorn - Press Your Thumb On These...

As the early flowers open, the trees are also filled with plump buds and soon all of these proto-flowers will burst forth in their full glory, smothering the trees in a haze of effervescent beauty.

This blossom is not just a thing to marvel at and wonder over. It is also a chance to register where delicious fruit may be growing later on.

At this early stage you will not be able to discern which variety of fruit (if any) will later appear; it could be damson, mirabelle, bullace, cherry plum, greengage or normal plums.

Like a Chinese Painting

Cherry plums make a sweet, firm afternoon snack; I often pick some during my lunchtime wanders and stash them in my lunchbox to munch on later.

Plum Blossom Normally Has Five Petals

The elusive greengage is quite simply delicious; they burst in your mouth like soft, delicate nectar-filled purses. There is a stone in there too mind you, so it’s best not to get too carried away.

If you are lucky you may even find a Victoria plum tree (the head Chef’s favourite) – We found one last year with big, fat beauties on it. It was in a Chandlers Ford car park and most likely a remnant left over from an old orchard or fruit garden.

A Blooming Wave

In the end though, it’s not the technical name of individual fruits that matters, it’s the fact that they taste delicious straight off the tree, freeze easily, cook well, make great wine and cost absolutely nothing.

Hedges Change Colour

There is always a positive glut of plums available every year. So, you should never need to buy them from the supermarket when they are in season next June/July.

Buds Bursting To Open

Free cherries follow soon after the plums.

Spring is Sprung



Crocus



Spring is sprung

The grass is riz

I wonder where the birdies is

The bird is on the wing they say

But that’s absurd!

I always thought the wing was on the bird.

More Crocuses!

That old rhyme was told to me by my Father and for some reason it resonated and stuck in my head. It is traditionally sung with a thick New York accent. I have not attempted to capture this in writing, but imagine boid instead of bird etc. and you will soon get the picture.

Darling Daffs of March

The birds are in fact all of a twitter. It’s nesting/mating time and the sap is rising!

Buds Fizzing On a Plum Tree

It’s a well-known and easily remembered fact that St. Valentine’s/Pancake Day tends to coincide with the appearance of frog and toad spawn it the ponds and lakes.

More Plum Blossom Bursting to Open

Daffodils will soon fill the verges with swathes of yellow and we can once again romantically wander, lonely as a cloud.

Beautiful Springtime

The various types of plum trees and blackthorn bushes are already bursting with buds.

Plum Blossom Heralds the Onset Of Spring

After this last warm weekend (I was in my tshirt), those of us who look, will notice more flowers in the trees - the hedgerows will soon be festooned in blossom. That’s right, the white blossom you spot in the hedgerows now will soon develop into young plums or sloes, so remember where you see it- there’s no fruit without flowers…

Seasonal Tree id Skill Sheets

Here, for your delectation, is an early prototype (and probably the final version too) of my seasonal tree identification sheets. I created the many varieties of Plum initially because they are normally the first to blossom each year, heralding the start of spring with a beautiful display of blossom.



Plum Tree id for Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn

These sheets will be available on request as A4 size PDFs, making them easy to print, but I had to create this small one as a picture in order to display it here.

Do let me know if you like this format and please bear in mind, I'm not a graphic designer...

Pretty As A Plum

Better For You Than M & M's

We decided to check out a road where I had spotted lots of fallen fruit last year, to see if any wild/cherry plums were ready to drop yet. As we arrived, we saw quite a few plums on the road and pavement. We also found that the road bordered a cricket pitch, which was even better news.

A tree-full of yellow plums or mirabelles

We found small, slightly pointy, yellow plums (possibly mirabelles) – they looked a bit like pixie hats. We also found reddish orange plums, which were slightly rounder. There were also some green fruits and purple ones but these were still a week off being ripe.

A Tree-full of Red Plums

I find it a real pleasure to gaze up into a tree laden down with colourful fruit – just to appreciate the sheer beauty that Mother Nature can conjure up. This wonder is only enhanced when you know that you can also pluck and eat this sweet, candy coloured cornucopia and it is all hanging there for free.

You Little Beauties

The easiest way to get the ripe plums off the tree is to shake them into a blanket, this way you only get the most ripe ones. There are bound to be a few that miss the blanket or fall on people’s heads, so it’s best to get children to hold it. It takes a while to train them to keep their arms out wide and straight but once you have achieved this, you can martial them into position and give the appropriate branch a good old Heave Ho!

The Good, Old-Fashioned, Blanket Method

What seems odd to me, is that hardly anyone else is going to utilise this gift; and that they will fall onto the ground to be consumed by the birds and wasps. Well, today we saved a few Kilos from this inglorious fate and ate quite a few on the way too.

A Few Kilos of Colourful Fruit

They look so gorgeous and colourful; it almost seems a shame to eat them.

A Real Plum Spot

Miraculously, just as the cherry trees were starting to look a little empty – I spotted a Cherry Plum tree that was laden with ripening fruit. I tried a couple, then quickly filled my empty sandwich box and headed back.

My First Cherry Plums of 2011

These beautiful little fruits are always simple to spot because people do not often bother to crop them at all, hence you tend to notice the fruity mess, squashed all over the pavement.

Squashed Messy Fruit - Look Up!

Cherry plums come in many colours and will differ likewise in taste but they will all cook nicely. I have seen Red, Yellow Purple and Green varieties, all of which taste great straight off the tree. It is easy to tell when they are ready for harvesting, as they will be falling of their own accord and should come off into your hand just by touching.

Many Colours but all Plums

Closely related fruits are the Greengage, Damson, Bullace and Wild Plum. Again, they vary greatly in size, taste and colour but all can be eaten or cooked.

The Usual Suspects

It’s worth remembering (especially if you have young children) that the pavement is not always the best place to pick from, especially if it is beside a busy road. Fortunately, there is often a field on the other side of the hedge, so this is where your young pickers should be installed.

Green Plums - Possibly Bullace

These tasty hedgerow fruits can be eaten straight of the tree or made into Pies, Jam, Chutney, Cordial, Schnapps, Wine and a hundred other lovely things. Most recipes that I know do not include the stones, so you might as well take them out as soon as you get home, if you intend to cook with them.

Red Cherry Plums

You can then freeze the halves in the same way as I described for cherries. Of course, they will keep on the windowsill (as they are) for a while, if you just want to eat them as the fancy takes you.

Pitted and Ready to Freeze

It might be worth experimenting a little with drying these fruits – home made prunes anyone? Actually these things often taste a lot nicer than they sound.

Another Loaded Tree Waiting to be Turned into Chutney, Jam or Pies

I think it may be about time to get the child supported blanket out again and shake a tree or two this weekend.

Summer Plum Recipes