Tasteless cherries 2015 – due to drought?

[Rhys]

Charles

We had a good cherry crop this July in terms of volume, however, it has all been rather tasteless so we have ended up cooking most of them.

Is this likely a function of strain or could the very dry April – June be part of it?

[charles]

Well at least you harvested them before birds! I suspect its the variety because a drought tends to concentrate flavours. It certainly has been a lot drier than usual especially I think in your area.
Here we have had 32mm so far in July which is not too bad but a lot of dry winds have evaporated it quickly.

[Rhys]

Yes Charles, the drought has really played havoc this year. The beans are still only half way up the sticks 8 weeks after transplanting. I had to water leeks daily for quite a while after transplanting them. However, we are now harvesting Ailsa Craig Onions both from clumps and from lone alliums, Pablo beetroot from clumps has yielded its first roots and the sweetcorn seems to be growing well, as do the carrots.

We’ve had a couple of heavy rainstorms in July but it’s been pretty warm so it evaporates pretty fast. I do have 100 Tigerella and 80 Alicante tomatoes growing well, so it looks another good year for outdoor tomatoes in pots.

[Author]

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