Fruitless

Ideally, instead of dropping big bucks each winter for birdseed, I'd rather provide our feathered friends with food from my yard. Alas, this rarely works out. This year, thanks to a late frost, not even the Viburnum Prunifolium has fruit. The Wentworth Highbush Cranberry is not much better, despite blooming later.

I've complained repeatedly on this blog (and to anyone foolish enough to ask) about how the other viburnums, Blue Muffin and Chicago Lustre, don't put out much fruit, either. I sure would like to know the secret to producing even an average crop, let alone a bin buster.

The summer birds are happy to help themselves to the people food. This year I frequently witnessed robins literally diving into the raspberry patch. Fortunately, they shared the bounty with us lowly humans. There are just a few late berries left.

Robins and bluebirds like pokeberry, which pops up here and there around the yard. It won't be long before these green berries turn purple. They won't last into winter.

I believe this is the fruit of the bittersweet nightshade. It grows sparsely on the back fence. Some birds like it, notably European imports, which is also the provenance of this alien invasive. Its days are numbered.

At least the cotoneaster can be counted on, year after year. Rarely does it fail to produce a heavy crop, for birds and bunnies.

It looks like I will be dragging home bags of peanuts and sunflower seeds again this year. But first, I need to figure out who the vandal is.

I suspect a raccoon. *sigh*

Raspberries and garlic

I maintain that raspberries are one of the easiest fruits to grow in the backyard garden. That said, the one task that takes some effort is clearing out the old canes. They are easy to spot, being brown against the green of the new canes.

This year's harvest was a bit disappointing, which I attribute to last year's late and overly enthusiastic pruning. This year I decided to be timely, and once the old canes were out, left most of the new canes intact, removing only those that were damaged and/or sickly looking.

My raspberry patch is wrapped in unfolded tomato cages (to provide support) and poultry netting (to keep the rabbits out). Part of the clean up includes unwrapping the poultry netting and trimming around the raised bed; also, removing some volunteer trumpet vine. (Never plant trumpet vine near a garden bed.)

Raspberry bed cleanup coincided with the garlic harvest this summer. Garlic is another super easy crop to grow. There were absolutely zero failures this year; every clove grew into an appropriately sized bulb for its type. The bulbs will cure in the shed for a month or so, then I'll trim the tops and relocate them to the garage.

The woodchuck wars continue. After destroying most of the fading broccoli plants (but ignoring the cabbage - WUWT?), the critter moved on to the kale. I found the latest breach and placed some pavers on either side of the fence, in hopes the damn critter cannot work its way around them.

One problem with all the poultry netting around the garden is that it occasionally snags me. Good thing I have had a recent tetanus shot.

The onions are starting to topple, the potatoes to die back, the corn to plump. And there have been zukes, cukes, and cherry tomatoes to enjoy. It must be August.

Why doesn't everyone grow raspberries?!?

When I headed for the raspberry patch the other evening, a bird flew out of the brambles. As much as I love raspberries, I admit I am getting tired of picking them, which I do on a daily if not twice daily basis, despite the mosquitoes. If a few birds want a snack, fine by me. After dealing with strawberry-stealing robins earlier this summer, I was afraid I would have a similar problem with the raspberries, but not so. Instead, I have been reaping quart after quart of red goodness.

I don't know why everyone doesn't grow raspberries. It's easy, it's fun, at $4 a half-pint for locally grown organic ones, it's thrifty. I planted four or five plants two years ago, last year enjoyed a pleasant harvest, but this year I have been amazed. Initially, I was picking a cereal bowlful a day, then I had to graduate to a quart bowl; for a few days I was actually picking TWO quarts a day. Now it's back to the cereal bowl and the berries themselves are getting smaller.

What do I do with all those berries? I've been eating them daily on my breakfast yogurt and freezing the rest. (Spread them on a cookie sheet, freeze, then transfer to a freezer bag - so simple.) I also made a galette and a raspberry version of this salad dressing, running the berries through my saucemaker to test the berry screen.

I chose Latham for my variety (I forget why), purchased from Jung. The canes are thornless and the fruit sets on two-year-old canes. I planted mine in an 8'x2' raised bed made of cedar, in the lawn. Raspberries can spread by sending out underground shoots. I was hoping the raised bed would discourage this, and I think it has, but the few that escape are decapitated by the mower.

Raspberry plants like sun; the shadier side of my patch bears less. As for care, all I do is prune out the spent canes after harvest, weed the bed, add some compost, mulch, and that is it. If raspberries have any serious pest problems, I have not seen them. I do keep them surrounded by poultry netting to prevent rabbit damage.

I don't know why it took me so long to grow raspberries. What's your excuse?

Random Wednesday (without pictures)

1. I am still getting used to being retired. Every day feels like Saturday. It's hard to give myself permission to sit down and read a book or watch a movie, as I'm not used to having enough hours in the day for such leisure activities.

2. Yesterday, I weeded the hosta bed and moved 'Love Pat' from one end to the other where a space had opened up as a result of said weeding. Then a Japanese painted fern went into the spot formerly occupied by 'Love Pat'. The fern (Athyrium nipponicum (goeringianum) 'Pictum') was a departure gift from my co-workers. The plant tag says it prefers to grow by water or in bog gardens. No such environment exists in my yard, so I hope I can keep it alive.

3. My co-workers also gave me a petunia hybrid known as Supertunia 'Indigo Charm'. That went into the bed by the front walk.

4. Speaking of the bed by the front walk, I have been slaving away there recently. Last year, I move some 'Clara Curtis' painted daisies there, and they were so happy, they rapidly began overwhelming everything else. I relocated those, then realized the few surviving coreopsis were blocking the view of the delphinium (which I was surprised to see survived last winter). I shifted the coreopsis to the back of the bed. I have alternative plans for the beds that are by the patio, so I moved salvia, scabiosa, and lavender from there to here. So now there is a big hodgepodge of plants in the bed by the front walk, including several sedums both low growing and tall. We'll see how they sort themselves out.

5. My experience with coreopsis is they rarely last more than a few years. The exceptions to the rule (knock on wood) are 'Route 66' and 'Zagreb'.

6. I have been picking almost a quart of raspberries on a daily basis, eating some, freezing the rest. A half pint of local organic raspberries goes for $4 in these parts, so I am feeling rather smug about my harvest.

7. When I planted potatoes in raised beds this year, it was with the intention of moving some of the dirt from the patio beds to the potato beds as the potatoes grew. The potatoes got ahead of me, WAY ahead of me, but I did add some of that dirt this week, topping it with straw. I learned from the first potato bed that I should work the outside edge before the interior areas, to keep everything propped up.

8. Sadly, it appears that my asplenifolia has died. It leafed out this spring, but now all the leaves are dead. Perhaps a delayed reaction to the harsh winter? I'm doing a wait-and-see, maybe it will recover, but so far, it does not look good.

9. I found my gas meter yesterday. During the month of June, my yard received over 7" of rain. Great for plants, even better for weeds. In the past, I have received a letter from the gas company, informing me they could not read the meter due to the weeds. Now they read the meter remotely, but I still want to keep that area clear. And the air conditioner.

10. No need for AC today. It is a lovely, breezy, partly sunny 75 degrees. Open the windows!