Last year we planted espallier cherry and apricot trees, the idea being that eventually they will screen the "working" vegetable and herb patches from the rest of the garden. Amazingly, we've had fruit! The hazard of cherry growing is knowing when to pick - leave them until they're fully ripe and you run the risk of little critters getting there first. Last year a squirrel sat quietly and munched the whole lot, leaving the stones in a neat little pile. This year we had masses of cherries, but a blackbird snuck up while I wasn't looking, and we only ate a quarter of the crop. Next year I'm buying some sort of fleece to keep them all off!

We've just eaten the apricots - delicious, beautifully coloured and with that tanginess that takes me right back to my childhood and sitting up in the apricot tree, eating straight from the branch, ducking wasps.

THIS IS JUST TO SAY by William Carlos Williams, 1883-1963

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold