Best get, Worst get

[foodinistar]

My best get has to be a set of Autumn Bliss raspberry canes (Nov 2007). I brought two other varieties at the same time but only these survived me leaving them, bare-rooted, in plastic until the spring. They produced a surprisingly good crop last year, considering the poor thin, mis-shapen canes (if one could call them canes) that struggled out of the plastic wrapper, and this year the thick, self-supporting canes are so dense, the row looks like a long shrub, and are laden with flower buds... I will be transplanting the shoots to get even more of this wonderful fruit - they taste delicious too!

My worst get has to be a Sunburst cherry tree (Nov 2006). The first year it produced nothing. Last year it produced six delicious large cherries. This year, the few young, green cherries seem now to have almost completely disappeared and the tree is sending out vigorous shoots in all directions. It will clearly be a difficult tree to control, it produces hardly anything and the birds will get anything I am too slow to protect. There is a cherry tree down the road that I can forage from and have got much more off the ground from in a single visit than I've ever got from my own tree, so I'm seriously thinking of digging it out and putting something else there instead.

What's your best get (and worst get)? And would you recommend it to me in a warm, open location in place of my cherry tree?

[Millymollymandy]

I don't recommend Golden Bliss raspberries (although my husband likes them - I think they are tasteless) but do recommend Zeva as an amazing red autumn fruiting raspberry.

I wouldn't give up on your cherry tree yet, it is still very young and will take a long time to mature and start producing 'properly' - and that of course will be dependant on weather/insects at the time of blossoming anyway.

[foodinistar]

They are Autumn Bliss, not Golden Bliss.

So, what's your best get and worst get?

[Millymollymandy]

They are Autumn Bliss, not Golden Bliss.

So, what's your best get and worst get?

Um yes I know, that's why I said that MY worst buy was Golden Bliss, and I recommended the variety that I mentioned above.

[boboff]

FIGHT!!!

[foodinistar]

Ah, sorry MMM. My misunderstanding.

[Millymollymandy]

No probs , and Boboff, we don't do fighting here! Well, not often anyway!

[red]

I bought a vranja quince tree that has been trying to die ever since. to be fair though - only aftger I put it in did I discover quince do not do well in the Westcountry. for some reason.


best buy: I bought my son a swarf apple tree to be his very own,and always be able to reach the apples. The variety is an eater called scrumptious. and it is. the teeny tree is kicking out apples, and i think i might buy some for myself, as they could go on the lawn without causing grief to neighbours etc.. being 5 ft max.

[jammie*dodger]

Worst get - purple sprouting broccoli. Went absolutley mad but never actually produceed anything edible.

Best get - Nadia early potatoes - despite my inexperience they produced wonderful rowth and equally wonderful new potatoes. Fantatsic straight out of the ground and boiled up with a bit of mint. Yum!

[foodinistar]

The purple sprouting broccoli sounds familiar! However, if you've still got it, give it a damned good haircut and watch to see what new growth it produces. That's what I did to a useless purple sprouting broccoli and I had fresh young leaves all autumn/winter and "some" sprouting in the spring - enough leaves and sprouting for use as a tasty veg and in stir-fries.

My best get - a set of 10 Autumn Bliss raspberry canes - is, according to my book, only supposed to produce berries from mid August, but has been producing since late June and the off-spring of the badly mistreated original canes are now producing enough for two decent bowls of berries per day - my freezer is rapidly filling up and I'm having to give raspberries away! It is criminal!

[Peggy Sue]

Best get - 5 invicta Gooseberry bushes 2007 I think- branches breaking under the weight of gooseberries. A clsoe second my Autumn Bliss as ever!

Worst get-one plum tree, but I can't remmeber the variety- it was something rare and unusual but the ticket blew away. To be fair we only got it last year but the other plum planted at the same time has produced loads. Maybe next year.