Woe are grapes

[bunn]

Our grapes, which have done so well for the last 2 years, have been afflicted with some dreadful blight. Most of the grapes have shrivelled and gone prematurely purple. I don't think there will be many ripening properly this year. No doubt this is down to the almost endless dratted rain. (the rain has stopped, at least for now, and it's now a blindingly hot summer day. Too late for the grapes though!)

I have had quite a few figs, but the early crop is now over. There are lots of figs on the tree though: will they manage to ripen before the autumn???

It's a stonking year for blackberries. They seem to love the rain. I picked quite a lot yesterday, and am thinking of blackberry and apple jelly (we also have absolute oodles of apples).
I was expecting Mollydog to pile in and eat blackberries too, given her interest in strawberries and raspberries - but she doesn't seem to like them. I spotted a fox munching blackberries from the hedge last week though.

I thought the hazelnuts weren't as good this year, but I now think that's only in the least sheltered places, where many of the nuts have been knocked down by the wind and rain. In the sheltered hedges, there are loads of nuts ripening nicely.

Comments

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose it's the noble rot? You could try making Trockenbeerenauslese ;-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

You know I wondered about that - then I thought - there must be thousands of mildews and rots, what are the odds I actually get a useful one? I bet there are loads of ignoble rots! I might google a photo though. ...

[chainmailmaiden]

That's a shame about the grapes, you could take a photo of them and email it to Bacchus, he might be able to identify what has damaged them. Alternatively send him a sample in the post...

Our grapes have gone purple, but they are still fairly small and apparently not very rope yet judging by the face Bacchus pulled when he sampled one at the weekend ;-)

[chainmailmaiden]

That should have been 'ripe', I really should read things through properly before posting!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

They've shrivelled pretty much entirely now. I don't want to post them, they may carry some awful infection! Might take a piccy though.

[chainmailmaiden]

Yes, I suppose he wouldn't want to threaten the success of the crop for Chateau Gillingham :-)