Blackberry picking

[badger]

Hello all

Does anyone know if people are allowed to pick the blackberries and elderberries in the Peckham Rye gardens and Dulwich park?

[mynamehere]

go to nunhead cemetary and dawson's hill and brenchly gardens for a bit of wild that's not so park and the canal path

[Mrs TP]

Gosh never considered being allowed / not allowed!

Have picked blackberries in Dul Park and remember a post on here re someone recommending elderberry picking in Peck Rye.

Would say go for it and enjoy your labours.

[badger]

Thanks!!!

And for those interested in general foraging, I found this awesome site: http://fruitcity.co.uk/the-fruit-map/ and this:

via https://www.facebook.com/urbanforagerpeckhampickler

[mynamehere]

And some wonderful planner/ horticulturalist for Southwark some years back planted the streets of East Dulwich full of crab apples. We've all been walking under a harvest of fruit for years and crushing it to pulp under our feet and some day the new lot of decision makers will rip them all out because they are "dirty". These rainbow crabapples make jam that comes in colours that you've rarely seen and tastes superb. There's so much pectin that it sets solid. Look up in a month and all that bright red and yellow and orange is edible.

[the-e-dealer]

East Dulwich was Orchards.

[Alec John Moore]

Thanks for the links, badger. I love the idea of foraging and guerilla gardening. I wouldn't be so down on the planners, mynamehere. I have spotted some deliberately planted fruit trees on the Surrey Canal path as I whiz past on my bike. Will make a point of stopping to examine them more closely and report back. It would seem to be part of the Burgess Park Master Plan to have foraging trees/bushes including hazel, cherry and even mulberry.

If you look around this forum you'll find a couple of community initiatives regarding fruit trees such as East Dulwich Orchard Collective and Matham Grove Street Orchard.

If there is anyone else who lives of Tyrrell Road reading this, would you be interested in trying to establish a street orchard?

Alec

[Ukjoncollins]

Just go for it. I've been foraging all round Dulwich this year for elderflowers. The only people to say anything are the inquisitive folk of Dulwich wanting to know what I'm making. If you don't pick them no doubt they'll just go to waste.

[dontpanic]

Check out http://www.facebook.com/urbanforagerpeckhampickler the Peckham Pickler - everything you need to know about foraging in these parts. Blackberries are fair game to anyone by the way....

[Alec John Moore]

I've been trying to note the fruit bearing trees that have been planted along the northern part of the Surrey Canal Path in Peckham. From memory there are plenty of rowan but also damson and crab apple. The newly/recently planted trees will probably take a while before they bear fruit and they are getting a bit smothered by weeds. They seem to be part of a scheme. Will try to find out more. I just like the idea that foraging is being officially encouraged.

[Moos]

I think berries and elderflower are fair game, they're not that decorative so no harm in taking them home and making delicious good use of them. Foraging is a fun pastime.

My only exception to the rule would be holly berries at Christmas time - they are part of the decoration of the park just as flowers are, and should be left for us all to enjoy.

[El Pibe]

Badger, the fields behind Sainsbury's there are quite literally millions of blackberries there.

get there either via greendale, abbotswood road or the little nature park/spinney between sainsbo's and the champion hill estate

https://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51.460202,-0.085275&spn=0.004532,0.01089&t=v&z=17

[KidKruger]

been waiting for this season for, oh, abou a year now...

[badger]

this is all such awesomeness - thanks peeps! I've had four jars of jam from this already...... :)

[KidKruger]

What's the recipe (link to recipe) ?

[Renata Hamvas]

No probs with doing this, due to the lack of sun this summer though, blackberries are just starting to become ripe, in another week or two you'll probably have a more successful forage! Be aware that some areas of the cemeteries are cordened off for safety reasons.

happy picking! (and eating/preserving)

Renata

[wonderwoman]

I remember definitely picking damsons when I was younger in Benchley gardens, near the forest hill road entrance. Although not fruit I came across a bay leaf tree in Peckham Rye Park on the way to the duck pond opposite the bowling green. A question in relation to picking, I've been told that if something grows over a private residence garden onto a public road or street technically one is allowed to pick, I'm sure it would be polite to ask the residence first but does anyone know if this is true?

[benmorg]

There are a couple of wild plum trees at the far end of Dulwich Hamlets FC car park. Small plums but good for jam. The trees are groaning with them and lots of fruit going to waste on the ground. Takes about 5 mins to pick 1-2 kg.

[fazer71]

only a metter of time before this !

(I pick mine at carphone warehouse)

;)

[Hare]

Good foraging recipes on http://www.hedgerowharvest.org.uk, too

[John Brady]

Coxs walk = pots and pots of brambling opportunities.

[Fuschia]

Whereabouts are the d park blackberries?

[Cassius]

Just be careful about putting berries straight into your mouth or the mouths of babes which are at the right height for dogs to have piddled over. Wash those first and keep the ones at a greater height for the snacking!

[Pickle]

The cemetery on Forest Hill Road (entrance just up from the Rose pub) is usually good for blackberries, they grow around the perimeter on the Wood Vale and Langton Rise sides.

[El Pibe]

I went with the wee one yesterday and it's very slim pickings compared to last year :(