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Tuesday 20 June 2017

It's too darn hot ...

To quote Cole Porter: It's Too Darn Hot ðŸ˜¤, and  Ella's lovely, deep velvet voice keeps singing those lines in my head these hot, hot days.

I don't know what's happened to our weather here in London, but every day the mercury seems to push its way north of 30º C, and I'm really struggling not to wilt. Mr B has been recovering nicely from his knee operation last Tuesday, so we've not had to take life too strenuously, which is just as well. If I had to do anything difficult right now I've got a feeling I'd fail miserably.

The other afternoon I was trying to calculate how many stitches I needed to cast-off to shape the neckline of a baby cardigan, and it took me four attempts - four! -before I managed to lose the necessary 8 stitches over 20 rows. I can only plead heat fatigue.

At least, looking on the positive side of all this heat, my Loganberry bush has produced a decent bucketful of fruit. I've picked the better part of 2 kg of berries, and it's still going strong. Because they don't all ripen at once I pick them, and freeze them each day as they're ready. When the weather cools down a bit, I'll make jam from the frozen berries. I'm not going anywhere near a hot stove and a steaming preserving pan in this weather!





Like raspberries, Loganberries have aspirations to take over the world. My mum warned me when I bought mine that I'd feel much better about my purchase if I made it grow politely in a large planter that thwarted its inclination to achieve total garden domination. I took her advice, and it's grown very happily in its contained home. I've staked the canes to the wall as it's thrown them up over the course of the spring. I've also made sure that it's had plenty of water, never allowing the soil to dry out completely. A cheeky geranium even moved in uninvited and has shared the Loganberry's home.

A very happy Loganberry plant
Loganberries are like raspberries on steroids: they've got all the flavour, twice the bulk and half the seeds of their smaller relations. When they ripen they go a wonderful dark burgundy. Pick them before they reach that dark tone, and they can be a bit tart to eat fresh, but once they hit that claret-colour they're delicate and sweet, and really good to scoff straight off the bush. 


When I think back to the amount of work we put into picking our wild raspberries back in Ireland last year, I'm slightly blown away by how easy it's been to harvest a couple of kilos of loganberries right outside my back door. If you've got a small garden and you're looking for the perfect fruit-cropping plant for jam-making this could be exactly what you're after!

All the best for now,

Bonny x



4 comments:

  1. I have never tasted loganberries...nor have I seen them that I remember. Wondering if they taste like blackberries or raspberries. Probably taste like a loganberry...LOL

    It has been hot here the past couple of days, but yesterday at least the wind blew and made it more not so bad.

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    1. They taste like raspberries, but with more flesh and fewer seeds. I understand them to be a cross between raspberries and blackberries, and they're not properly ripe until they've got a much deeper colour than the normal ripe raspberry. They're a first class jam-making fruit as there's a lot less work in picking them, and they're pretty high in pectin which makes it easier to get the jam to set.

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  2. Found your blog again (hooray) - I lost a bunch of subscriptions when we switched e-mail addresses last year. - Anyway it goods to be back. My oh my those berries look so delicious. Loving how they are growing on the wall like that.

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  3. Like your other readers, I haven't tried loganberries, but they do look delicious. 30 C is definitely not the weather for strenuous kitchen activity! We've been having similar temperatures here, but it isn't unusual for us (though I still hate the humidity). My mum tells me that it has been hot in her part of the world too (North Yorkshire). As for heat fatigue, I've got it too - I've been attempting lace knitting for the first time and spending lots of time frogging... Enjoy your weekend and I do hope that you get some respite from the heat. Marie x

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