Fruit and sunflowers

 

One precious plum, September 2024

We have had very few plums on our Czar tree this year, and most of them are out of reach.  Maybe 20 or 30 on the tree at the very most.  The daughter has had what few we could pick.

The Kumoi pear also had a grand total of one fruit, which we picked two weeks ago.  It was crisp, juicy and sweet;  a truly delightful pear, somewhat like a European pear but also not.  If a European pear is crisp, it's usually not juicy or sweet--the texture is what I love about Kumoi.

Sparta apples in their glory, September 2024

Last week I picked the Sparta tree clean, harvest shown in its entirety above.  Not a lot, but at least all are excellent size (unlike my Laxton Fortune).  It's meant to be a red apple, but most of these matured in part-shade so only a couple are fully red;  though as you can see it's really dark, almost purple.  Like the Kumoi pear, Sparta is crisp, juicy and sweet.  A very good eating apple.

And to complete the set, in my weighing bowl in the above photo is also a glimpse of a Brown Turkey fig.  So far I think I've picked three off my tree.  Now mid-September, while still a lot of green fruits of various sizes, that may be it. 

Self seeded sunflower at the back of zucchini and netted pak choi and radishes, September 2024

And look at my huge sunflower!  I usually get a handful of these sprouting up every year in this spot, where they drop the seed the previous autumn.  I had two others, both no more than waist height, both now finished.  This one is probably twice my height or more and showing no signs of stopping.  I'm hoping for lots of seeds for next year's show.