Welcome to The Freerange Gardener...

...a record of life in a Devon garden.

First up, Summer Pudding anyone? The unending rainfall in 2012, followed by this year's cool, late spring and sun-drenched July, seem to have conspired to generate colossal quantities of soft fruit. Our modest array of bushes (two blackcurrants, two redcurrants, a whitecurrant, and three gooseberries, with raspberry canes romping through them), are still dripping with plumptious beauties (to borrow a phrase that Nigella Lawson once shamelessly applied to a bowl of cranberries). And that after lord knows how many Summer Puddings, kilos of jams, sauces and compotes and cereal toppings à go-go. Even better, there is enough left unpicked to supply a steady stream of Blackbirds, Robins and Blackcaps, which can be heard rustling deep inside the bushes, occasionally emerging with a colourful prize grasped firmly in a juice-stained bill. We used to faff about with netting, but have realised that there is actually plenty of fruit for both human and avian consumption if you concentrate your time and effort on making sure the plants are strong, well fed and properly pruned.