What's on the allotment...
Growing Quince
Quince (pictured above as it flowers) is a small, hard, pear-shaped fruit. Because of its tough texture it's rarely eaten raw and is most often made into jelly. The classic Spanish Membrillo is also made from quince. This is also known as Quince Cheese and is often seen cropping up as an accompaniment to sharing meat and cheese platters in modern restaurants.
Lots of people have ornamental quince trees in their gardens, but this plant is the original scrub which occurs natively in South West Asia.
There's plenty more to keep on top of at our allotment.
Here's some of what we have growing right now:
- Two types of dessert apple
- Quince
- Pear
- Plum
- Red currant
- Blackcurrant
- Blueberry
- Raspberry
- Gooseberry
And more recently...
- June berry
- Japanese wineberry
- Barbary
- Hawthorn from Azerbaijan
- Chinese Dogwood (a large, free-flowering
Chinese Dogwood, (Cornus. kousa var. chinensis) is a large, free-flowering deciduous shrub with ovate leaves turning red and orange in autumn. It produces a delicious deep pink, strawberry-like fruit. Unfortunately the frosts at the end of April had a bad effect on this exotic plant - as it did with our Schezuan peppers - but our growing efforts are overall going strong!
strawberry flowers opening up ... looking hopeful for a good crop this summer!