The last stock of berries from the 2025 harvest is now gone. In a normal year I would be looking forward to a new crop, starting in late July with Latvian varieties – then in late August with German ones.
Some of my plants are the originals from 2009 – the Latvians are from 2015. They have been very fruitful up until now but many of the plants are now very large and need a real cutting back. Over the past two years I started this process to bring on some new growth from the centre of the plant. This year the large branches off the top have to come off. These would be the one’s that would provide this year’s harvest. So I will not be harvesting – but working hard to reshape the plants and encourage them to bring on new growth for future harvests.
During this time there is a new project underway. In collaboration with another farm I am working on the potential of sea buckthorn leaf as a crop. The leaf has similar nutrient value to the berry in many ways being high in Flavonoids and polyphenols. There are no current recognised harvesting methods and drying the leaf will need researching to develop a system that ensures we maintain the nutritional quality. Leaf has anti-microbial and anti-viral properties amongst others. It is harvested in Europe and Asia but is little seen in the UK.
This is a two year project and by the time it is completed there will be a new crop of berries to go with the leaf.
I am sorry to our customers who will be looking out for berries. The pruning cycle is an essential operation and with it I expect to be putting in some new plants for the future.
Thank you for your interest in sea buckthorn – we will continue with capsules, oil and powder while there is a pause only with the berries.
