It's the end of June and the time when gardening is not just hard work, but also satisfaction. This is the time when I get very busy. This year we got lucky as there was no hailing till now, there was no frost during the flowering period and there were no major disasters to set the garden back in evolution, like last year.
Today I'd like to take you on a virtual tour and show you what we have so far.
Fruits
Let's start with the beauty of the garden, the queen of the currants or ribes if you like. As you can see on the photos, almost ready for harvest, which means next week I'm going to be making jam or juice.
I'm more interested in making juice this time as we still have plenty of jams from previous years and don't like to pile up anything unless it's necessary.
White currants are ready as well and must say, beautiful. A few years ago these white ones were looking terrible, but now they are well taken care of as my dad uses an organic fertilizer, which has good results.
Gooseberries are getting ready too and I'm a bit puzzled with them. As I said earlier, I would prefer juice over jam, but with gooseberries, it's a different story. The peel of the fruit is very rich in pectin, which is the thickening agent we use for jams. If I choose juice, all that good pectin is going to waste, so I suppose I'm going to make some jam as well. Especially for my honey cake, which requires a sour jam.
This creature looks strange but trust me, it's not an alien, it's a melon 😃 We grow melons and honeydew because there's nothing better than having a fresh, organic, homegrown melons or honeydew for breakfast. Last year these cuties got smashed by the hail, which left some serious mark on them, one even started to rot. This year we're lucky. These still need a month I think, but so far so good.
Grapes are also looking good. If nothing bad happens, the harvest will be good. At this point I don't think anything bad can happen though, we're over the critical periods.
A couple of months ago it looked like there will be no hazelnuts, but as you can see, we are still going to have some. This is for the family only, so I'm happy if we can share some.
Veggies
Veggies are lagging a bit, or let's say it's not time yet for veggies, but onions can already be eaten. However, the harvest for winter is going to be in July or August. We have white, yellow and red every year.
Garlic is a bit of disappointment this year too and we came to realize the soil must not be suitable for growing garlic. I mean we got some, it wasn't a total waste but we should have had 2 or 3 times more. These are out to dry.
Cucumbers!!! The best veggies after tomatoes, but tomatoes are considered fruits, so ... 😁 Honestly, having fresh cucumbers every morning for a nice salad and for hydrating my skin as well is priceless.
Pickles? Anyone? You may say it's too early for pickles, but you cant time grows, so when we have to many, we make pickles.
Black Cherry Liqueur
This has nothing to do with the garden as we don't have cherries, let alone black ones, but it's a lot of fun. So we got these black cherries at the market last week and thought why not make some delicious liqueur. The process is very easy. You add sugar to the cherries, put it out to the sun for the sugar to melt and after a few days (may be a week even, dunno, my dad is the master) you add alcohol and leave it for a month or two. The more time the cherry stays in the alcohol, the better and we're in no rush. The best thing about it is that you can eat the cherries after, just be careful as you can get drunk 😁
So this is it for now, but I'll be back next week with the juice and/or the jam recipe and process. Let's see how things go first.
Currants? Have never known the word in English hahaha... it is forever just ribizli and piszke :D oh, that second one I do miss a lot, it is now ripe and until I arrive nothing will remain 😅
Ribizli, as piszke is used in Hungary, not here 😂😜
Trust me, I had no idea about the English name, till I started blogging on Hive.
"Ribizli" in Hungarian? That´s interesting :) It´s "ribezle" in Slovakian and "rybiz" in Czech :) Looks like the Hungarian language might not be as distant as so many people in Europe say haha :)
Btw, absolutely lovely shots, that´s one epic feast happening in your garden right now! :)
You'll be surprised how many similarities are there. I saw a movie a couple of years ago I saw a movie about a German officer's life, during the second world war and in a kitchen there was a jar with the inscription Cukor. Cukor is sugar in Hungarian, but turns out in Polish as well. So who knows 😂
I think you are right. I don´t know why I heard over and over again how the Hungarian language is difficult, crazy and different than any other language in the world. I´m sure there are many similarities with other languages, probably Slavic languages especially. Btw sugar is "cukor" in Slovakian language and "cukr" in ours ;) We are all one big language family :D
This discussion is getting funnier and funnier 🤣
I'm laughing because I've been asked several times if Hungarian is difficult and my answer always is: "Not for me" 😂
But I suppose it must be difficult, especially the grammar. I've been tutoring my niece and nephew both in English and sometimes it was easier to explain the grammar by comparing to Romanian.
I also know Americans who came here and decided to learn Hungarian and after 3 months of struggle they decided to drop the Hungarian classes and switch to piano 😂
Hahaha, I can totally imagine :D Our language is actually considered ridiculously difficult and complicated as well :D And it´s only spoken here, in this tiny country so why would any foreigner want to learn it? :D Btw I don´t know why but I always forget if you are a Romanian living in Hungary or a Hungarian living in Romania :D
Regardless of the name, they taste well :))
I wish I could send you some. Someone please invent teleportation 😀
Thank you 😇
I will imagine having some of them until the teleport machine is not invented :)
Oh my God, all these fresh fruits are just mouth-watering, but in summer my favourite thing is cucumber+onion+tomatoes salad 😋, so I want some fresh onion & cucumber from your garden 🤩. The virtual tour of your garden show that you do the proper time and care to your garden that's why now enjoying the fruit of your efforts 😘
Thank you! Without proper time and care you get nothing, so the more you care about the garden, the better the result.
Those times, when "God took care of everything" as they say and fruits and veggies grew by themselves are long gone or that was just a tale 😀
Hello @erikah
Your garden is very rich, although not very complete, but your generosity really makes you appreciate what is there.
The red fruit is very beautiful. I've never seen it at all. Is it a kind of mini wine and how does it taste?
I'm a bit confused. I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean by "not very complete".
The currants are a but sour but can't compare the taste to any fruits.
What I mean by "not very complete" is not all the fruit is there. Someone's garden isn't like a fruit market with all its fruits, right?
But many strange fruits are in your garden that are rarely found. It is very interesting and invites curiosity. Unique garden!
Hope you can continue to develop it.
Oh, I see. Looks like your knowledge about gardening is very limited or non existent.
Someone's garden isn't like a fruit market. You grow fruits depending on your available space, climate and soil type.
You are completely right, @erikah.
I don't understand about botany and gardening.
For some people, they really enjoy growing various crops, caring for and waiting for them and having fun while harvesting the produce. But I really respect their efforts.
I am always disappointed with trying to plant things, they will not grow and if they grow, they will not bear fruit. I guess I was traumatized by them.
I really fell in love with the beautiful red fruit. I've seen the photos over and over again.
No matter how easy it looks from outside, gardening is not easy. It takes years to kearn and experience what you can grow and how. There are good years and bad years and there are terrible years when bad weather leaves you with nothing.
So it's hard work, but if you're consistent, you get results.
I managed to get a new spirit from you, @erikah. Thanks for that. I'll try it again sometime.
Currently I have only a few types of orchids because of the ease of care, although that is also not easy. !LOL
You got some great shots in here and a lovely garden going! =)