Melon, Raspberry Beetle and the Trouble with Fruit

The biggest melon is now grapefruit sized, with the other three ranging from kiwi-sized to apple-sized.


On the left (above) is the pumpkin-squash hybrid thing, you can't really tell from the picture but it is in fact about 1 ft long, and 8" in diameter. On the right is a Blue Ballet squash.


The runner beans being pollinated.


The leeks I put in a few days ago, just visible in the foreground. Behind them, some others that I planted a few weeks ago, doing well. Behind them, the shallots I am about to harvest (the smallest will be pickled), and the onions.



And finally, a plot overview, showing lots of empty spaces where I have cut down the peas and broad beans and sown clover and field beans as green manure, and a gap behind where potatoes have been dug up, but that bit is still empty. You can't see much else without enlarging the picture.

So, to my raspberry dilemma. As I mentioned previously, I was thinking of starting some new raspberries at the allotment this winter, but having read this discussion with some fellow raspberry growers, I've been rather put off the idea, and it's also put me off blackberries.

For me, the most useful fruit is the sort you can just pick and eat raw, unsweetened, and with nothing more than a small dollop of creme fraiche to make palatable, as opposed to the sort which needs cooking and turning into high calorie puddings. Strawberries only last a few weeks, and raspberries are the obvious thing to take over when the strawberries have finished. Other than tree fruit, for which I am limited by space and cost restrictions, what else is there?