The blackcurrants certainly did need picking, but it doesn't end at that. The plant then has to be cut back right back, leaving the new branches for the next season. In the moment, I thought why not—take the time? Repetitive, mantra-like, as I plucked the tiny, purple, vitamin C bombs from the branches, I found myself thinking about how, I inevitably was destroying the habitat of some bug or other. I could feel the reproach, from an enormous grey spider, swinging from the remnants of her web and of the bright green grasshoppers, pinging all over the place. A plastic-looking earwig looked quite pissed off, or maybe it's just their demeanor. All had to relocate, with one consolation, I left the berries that fell for any passing takers. Immediately, a big fat slug, smelling the berries, advanced, amazingly fast for a slug, out of the poppies, to claim and gorge itself on a berry bigger than its head.
My prize, the berries you see in the photo above, weighing in at a grand 340 g. As I sit on the garden bench relaxing, I wonder what will be next on the harvest agenda, before the leaves start to fall: tomatoes, grapes, blackberries...
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