Every autumn I take notice of which fruits and seeds are common and which have not had a good year.

2008 has indeed been a good year for ash trees. Because of their shape the fruits of the ash are known as keys.

This year there are huge numbers and in the old days the keys, whilst they were still green, were placed in vinegar and pickled.

They were very crisp, full of vitamins and were used in salads. I tried pickled ash keys and they sounded smashing but tasted just like vinegar.

In contrast, the sycamore seems to have had a poor year and there are very few fruits which resemble the blades on a helicopter and spin away in the breeze.

Last year was a sycamore year, so all that nature has done is to restore the balance. I wonder if LT readers have noticed the shortage of sycamore seeds?

Because the sycamore is such a common tree it is regarded as a weed.

Its timber however, was used in the cotton industry to make spindles.

The wood takes on a shine and does not splinter. This meant that there were fewer accidents in cotton mills when sycamore was used.

It will be interesting to see if 2009 is the year of the Sycamore whilst the ash fares less well than in 2008!