Every year I think how lucky I am having my fruit cage. The red currants are turning pink and that would’ve been a sure signal for the birds to come and feast!

I have two gooseberry bushes, red and green one. I also had fourberry bushes, they gave some fruit last year and even though they flowered well last week I discovered to my horror that they were smothered in some dreadfull black/grey fly infestation. Completely beyond saving and the rest of the soft fruit bushes in danger, so they had the chop!

Fortunately all the other bushes escaped. As I was checking I realised that the gooseberries were getting quite big. The best thing to do if you want some decent-sized fruit is to thin them. And of course the thinnings can be used.

This time I am not going to use them to make jam – somehow not many people eat jam these days; I know we use much less. So it’ll be savoury instead. I found a great recipe, it is Mint and gooseberry jelly and it goes very well with cold meat or cheese or with anything else that might take your fancy.

This way nothing is wasted, mint is looking very good now. One thing I’d like to add is that I don’t follow the recipe exactly – instead of letting it drip and just using the liquid, I mash the fruit and use it all because the skins are nice and soft after being boiled. It is a shame to waste the fruit.