A good year for hedgerow and wild crops?

[Jayb]

I went for a little walk yesterday on the local common and wow an amazing crop of wild blackberries, a really good size too. I think as we haven't had much rain they have done really well and the fruits haven't spoiled. I picked some for the freezer and will use for crumble and to make jelly. I noticed lots of Hazel nuts again this year, well there were until the squirrels raided most of them!

[Jayb]

[Silverleaf]

Yes, the wild brambles in my garden have done very well this year and I've picked loads for the freezer and eaten quite a few! Another good reason to neglect your garden a bit ;)

Elders have been loaded with berries and I have a batch of those in the freezer for later too. And a few haws, and I'm waiting for rose hips to ripen.

Now I need to find some sloes, and I'm all set!

[Jayb]

Hope you find some, not much help but lots of blackthorn around here, quite a few are loaded with sloes, though not all and it seems to be the direction they are facing, perhaps early winds or frost taking their toll?

[Silverleaf]

I might plant my own one day!

[goodlife]

I've been picking some mushrooms..!! And what is best...now that I know where these particular ones grow, I shall be getting much more as nobody here will pick any of them In UK they are classified as 'inedible' or even mildly 'poisonous'...and yet in Finland they are common mushrooms to be picked and eaten, they just need some 'treatment' before they are ready for food preparation. I did notice few odd looks when I showed my treasure for few people that were curious of my treasures YUM YUM..they were lovely and made really nice 'spag bol' to eat couple of times.
I've now discovered where some bilberries are growing nearby.. ..though this year its been too dry for them..but at least I know where they are growing..blueberries in my tubs in plot are cropping well

[Jayb]

Oooh you rebel! As long as you know what you are doing. Me I just stick to field mushrooms!

I've now discovered where some bilberries are growing nearby.. ..though this year its been too dry for them..but at least I know where they are growing..blueberries in my tubs in plot are cropping well

Lucky you  , we don't have any very close here. Used to be a lot on the hill behind my grannies house.

[Jayb]

And a few haws,

What are you going to make with the Haws?

[Silverleaf]

The haws will probably end up as part of a batch of "hedgerow" jelly.

[Digeroo]

The haws are particularly plentiful around here,  some of the trees/bushes are almost red.  Can we have the recipe for hedgerow jelly please sounds interesting.  I should be able to find sloes though they are still very sour at the moment.

Blackberries have been amazing, I mix them with elderberries, seems they are a very good anti virus.

http://www.naturalnews.com/039367_black_elderberry_colds_anti-viral.html

[Silverleaf]

I haven't made the jelly before, but I'm probably going to use the recipe from here. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/12/wild-hedgerow-berries-recipes

[jimc]

Lucky you people who have something to glean from the reserves nearby.
The only thing I have growing on the roadside here is an Elberta peach which is probably about 30 years old. When the neighbour moved in nearly 40 years ago he says he grew that type of peach, his favourite. Probably a fruit bat (flying fox) carried off a fruit and either dropped the seed below the power lines or a nearby tree, about 130 metres from his orchard.
Eleven years ago it was wild and rampant and always full of Queensland fruit fly. That was a source of infestation for my new orchard so I took drastic steps to bring it under control and net it against pests and animals.
About 4 years ago the local electricity authority came along cleaning up vegetation from under power lines to stop fires from starting when limbs touched the wires. Well you guessed it, they cut down a well tended tree which looked like it had been pruned to about 2.2m and poisoned it. So much for the poison that it reshot from one side of the stump and grew well the next season. I tended it a gain and attached a sign to say what it was. We had a fantastic harvest in January this year. Then in March a hundred metres away a large limb from a nearby tree fell and brought down the 33000V lines creating a large 5 hectare bush fire. That burnt the tree again and although the trunk still looks green there are new shoots appearing from the base again as we enter spring so hopefully I can train up another tree on the roadside which I am able to share the fruitage of with neighbours.
Otherwise I have to travel an hour south to find blackberries in the mountains or and hour north to the tablelands to find apples.

[Paulines7]

We bought a couple of small hazel bushes from France about ten years ago and put them in our paddock.  They never produced any fruit until this year when they have been laden with nuts.  Fortunately, we don't have squirrels in our village so they were able to mature.  We have hundreds of cob nuts now for Christmas.

It has also been a good year for elderberries despite my taking off some of the flowers in the spring to make elderflower wine.  We haven't had the time to pick the berries though and they are now going over. 

It certainly has been a good year for hedgerow and wild crops and there will be plenty of food for the birds.