fruits
We love berries (who doesn’t), and have been working for three years to increase our fruit production. We inherited a badly neglected orchard when we got the land and have been working to restore those trees which were too good to lose.. They include Gravenstein and Macintosh apple trees. We have since planted crabapples, cherries, quince, Bosc, Anjou, and Comice pears, Bramley's seedling and Cox's Orange Pippen apples, and have rooted "sports" from one of the finest old plum trees around.
We have 600 row feet of Tayberries established and tied to stainless cables. This should be our first year with significant quantities of Tayberries. If you taste them there is a good chance they will become your favorite berry of all. Bred in Scotland from raspberry and blackberry ancestors, they have a new and rich flavour similar but magically different from either or both of its genetic providers. We can't wait for the season to come again.
We didn't like the taste of the thornless blackberries which were available, so we have planted quite a few Himalayan blackberries, with 1/2 inch thorns, which tasted magnificent where we found them on Salt Spring Island. We must be very vigilant never to let them escape their row or the farm may disappear into a thicket of thorns. Such is the price we must pay for the finest flavours.
Strawberries and Raspberries at present are only grown in "farmhouse" quantities.