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This year I decided not to post monthly updates on the Quince Tree because I thought it was getting a bit boring. After all, it goes through the same cycle of bud, leaf, blossom, fruit every year.
Or so I thought.
Compare them to the pictures below of the tree this year.
Something is missing.
There are no quinces this year.
None at all.
Remember this in April? The wind and rain wiped out all the blossom before it had a chance to set.
No quinces.
Not a single solitary one.
I am quinceless.
I will buy a few quinces from Waitrose if they have any Turkish ones (presumably the whole UK crop has failed) but I will not be converting my kitchen into a quince processing factory this year.
What I thought I'd do instead is post lots of apple recipes as apples are something everyone has access to and I don't cook with them nearly enough. Apple trees blossom later than quince trees so I'm hoping the local apple crop will be in good supply this year.
Apple pies and pasties, apple cakes, apple betty, apple charlotte, apple jellies and apple chutneys.
: :
The Quince Tree will be on holiday from Friday 20th July until 27th July
Flippin' weather has a lot to answer for! I've noticed that our old plum tree is in a similar state - a few odd plums on it but nothing like the usual crop. I do have apples coming though - so look forward to your appley recipes. Have a lovely holiday x
ReplyDeleteWe lost all the blossom on the plum tree due to the frost too :( and it seems the pear tree won't be beating its record of 7 this year - nothing at all - blooming weather :(
ReplyDeleteThat is terrible. We are having the same thing here with our apple trees. We had early buds on the trees and then several frosts came and killed them. What might survive got blown away in wind storms. The farmers don't think there will be any apples at all. We live near several very large apple orchards and it is devastating. I hope you find some quince in the shops.
ReplyDeleteNo apples or plums on my trees either. Very sad
ReplyDeleteJolly sad even at the domestic level, but I wonder what kind of effect this strange weather will have on our national fruit/veg production this year? Just what our growers can do without, an excuse for the Big Three to 'outsource' their fruit buying even further.
ReplyDeleteOh Sue that is so sad :-(
ReplyDeleteAnyway i can`t wait for you apple recipes. Have a fab holiday.
Love Carole from Rossendale xxxx
Apples are ok but no pear or cherry. So sad about the quinces Sue blummin weather.
ReplyDeletePoor quinceless you... though I'll be looking forward to all the wonderful things you can do with apples. Apples are my favourite fruit to cook things with!
ReplyDeleteMy sympathy on your quincelessness, and have a lovely holiday. I have a daughter who will only eat apple-based food so am looking forward to your new theme.
ReplyDeleteCommiserations on your quincelessness. I wonder how the National Quince Collection at Norton Priory has fared - their Quince Day is my only source of quinces. Their trees are within a walled garden so they may not have been frost damaged to the same degree, I must telephone and ask. Normally come October one can pick up carrier bags full of fruit for very little money as so few folk have an interest in buying quinces.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely holiday x
It wasn't the frost which got mine Annie it was the wind and rain. Hope you get some.
DeleteThis is the saddest post that you've ever written I think. Let's hope that the holiday makes up for it, in part at least.
ReplyDeleteWe have apples (cooking & eating - later blossom) and plums (sheltered behind a garage) but our pear trees have only 2 pears (on one tree) (both in a wind tunnel) Last year the one was heavily laden and this year just the two fruits :(
ReplyDeleteAre you going to have to change your blog name? To CD Bird Scarer, or Zéphirine, or the name of something else that resides in your garden?
ReplyDeleteVery sorry to hear the news. I have lost a monarda, several rudbeckias and most of my sweet peas (which don't really stand a chance in my climate even under normal conditions) in this drought. Amazingly no roses, however (so far, anyway).
Think 'The Weed garden' might be the most appropriate name.
DeleteSue - what a shame. If this awful weather continues 'The View From Here' header will show a solid sheet of rain, and yours 'The Quinceless Tree' perhaps.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you come to Canada? My quince bush had tons of blossoms this year. I guess I'll have to search your older recipes for things to do with them. However, looking forward to the apple recipes. Living in the sunny Okanagan, which is full of apple orchards, we have apples in abundance every year. Have a great holiday.
ReplyDeleteThe New York cherry crop this year is pitiful: yesterday I used two pints to try to make a pie, and had to top it off with some peaches. Normally at this time of year I'm over my elbows in cherry pie and cherry jam, so I feel your pain. Just think of the anxiety the farmers are going through!
ReplyDeleteWe have the same here! no plums, greengages or damsons to speak of. The cold spring meant no early insects to pollinate the flowers!
ReplyDeleteLots of apples though!
How sad - I think the weather this year has been dreadful for much fruit production - our lovely PYO farm hasn't allowed any picking this year, such is the dreadful crop and the condition of the soil. Too sad for words.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it has been a bumper year for something. Watercress?
Hello Sue
ReplyDeleteSad about the Quinces - Up the apples.
Do I infer that your absence for a week means you are now
going camping with the group!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good lord no! We are off to Cornwall to stay in a cottage with plumbing and electricity and stuff like that. The camping trip will go ahead in August happily without me :)
DeleteWe have about 6 quinces this year(normally over 100!) plums 10 (normally too many to count) Bramley apples 1.cox apples on three mature trees none, unknown red eating apple 3 ,morello cherries none,apricots 5.Fabulous crop of loganberries,figs and raspberries.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. It's all a bit depressing isn't it? I hope our local apple crop hasn't been too badly hit.
DeleteWhat a shame, I haven't had much luck at anything gardeny this year :(
ReplyDeleteI did eat the most amazing cookies today though from your recipe, oh wow, they were gone in 15 mins, quick walk later I think
Karen x
Oh no! That's a great shame. I am pretty close to building an ark and sailing away actually. Could have gone down our Hight Street in a canoe last night ...
ReplyDeleteWell have a happy holiday oh Quinceless One. I hope the Azores High reaches you down there in the nick of time.
ReplyDeleteWe have one apple on our tree. One. And it's a pretty funny shape. Oddly, though, the currant and gooseberry harvest is *huge*. I like your repeated quince tree posts, for just this reason; each year is so very different from the last...
ReplyDeleteYou have made me feel a whole lot better! We have a little quince tree that we thought was finally big enough to fruit this year ... we had lots of blossom, but no quinces developed much to my disappointment! Now I know it was not just us!
ReplyDeleteSorry to read about your quince tree.Hope your apple does better than ours, we have no apples this year for the first time ever.Our gardener says its not just ours but all the apple trees & orchards he looks after around here are bare.We are in Edinburgh & our tree is laden year in year out.
ReplyDeleteNo Quinces!!:O
ReplyDeleteWe bought an apple tree last year 'Lord Derby' its called,and it was full of blossom last May but we had a fire and it wiped out most of my garden. We replanted our garden, and surprisingly the apple tree came back to life this year, but same story, the weather wiped out all the blossom, we have 1 solitary apple, Darn weather, so 2 years on the trot we still haven't seen what our apple tree is capable of...
The wind and rain took all the pears and apples from the trees here. And usually we have to ban people from the end of the garden because of the mulberry mash but this year we have very few and they are all minute.
ReplyDeleteAx
We have a few, but they look to be clinging on for dear life. Very little fruit generally, no plums, greengages and next to no apples, but we noticed a distinct lack of bees in spring. Add to that marauding deer this year and all is not well........ Blackcurrants however, have been in abundance.
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