Our nectarines are early this year. Maybe it’s because the arboreal neighbour, the apricot, fell over some months back so the normally-later-fruiting nectarine didn’t feel the need to wait its turn. More likely it’s due to the unusually heavy rain we’ve had this year, the result of which has been – so far – three trunks cracked half a metre from the ground and the tree above fallen over, and one large branch of the nectarine rudely severed from the trunk by the sheer weight of its fruit.
I picked the fruit off the broken branch and preserved it. Cut it and stewed it and put it into jars. I love making preserves.
Last year I seemed to miss everything; I went out too late in search of nature’s bounty and found the fruit all gone to parrots or already picked … either that or every single tree on my usual round didn’t bear fruit. To my delight, the trees are making up for this year!
Roll on, cook-ups!
Annabel Harz: Author and Artist 