First fruits

The nights are still cool but my garden is full of sweet promise. The first of the fruits are starting to set: the strawberries, the grapes, the figs. Blueberry blossoms hang like porcelain bells from their thin branches. I think these are two year old plants, so I am advised by various authorities to not let them bear fruit. I assume this is in the interest of diverting energy solely to plant growth. I will probably let the berries mature on one of my three bushes, to give my son a taste and also in the name of science. I will be interested to see if next year there is any difference in the size and production of the plants.

Alpine strawberries

Ozark beauty strawberry

Kadota fig

Concord grape

The dessert table beckons, if my greedy family lets any fruit actually make it in the door. Usually the strawberries are gobbled while crouching in the garden, the morning sun glinting off the dew. I have more hope for the grapes; the texture is a little slimy right off the vine, so this late harvest will likely make it to the jam pot. As for the figs, I have a vision of home-cured prosciutto draped over a homegrown Kadota fig....a little taste of the Tuscan countryside right here on the west side of Chi-town. I will need a long, hot summer to see any ripe figs, and I am keeping my fingers crossed. Either way, I will have beautiful fig leaves to decorate my cheese plates and the romance of a potted fruit tree in an otherwise concrete-laden corner of my urban yard.