Category: garden

Preparing for spring, everbearing raspberries

The last couple of years spring came so late and winter lasted so long I didn’t really have a chance to prepare the garden.  This year the lack of snow and the relatively mild temperatures have given me the chance to do some early season prep work.  Let’s talk about raspberries.

raspberries
There are many types of raspberries, and they need to be taken care of based on their type.

The type of raspberries I am used to working with are everbearing.  This type gives you two crops a year if properly pruned.  Each year the plant puts up new shoots that will flower and fruit late in the summer.  These are the primocaines.

They will produce fruit from late summer until the weather gets cold enough to make them go dormant.  This is a heavy crop of fruit, with large berries.  When winter comes, any berries that are still on the bush will remain until spring, unless birds or deer decide to eat them.

In the spring, it is best to prune the vines while they are still dormant.  The picture below gives a clear indication of where to prune.  The buds for this year can clearly be seen in the image below. They show up just below the end of the last fruiting branches from the fall.

late winter raspberry vine
The buds will start where the previous year’s berries left off.  Click on image for better details.

When the weather warms, they will grow into the new growth that will house the spring harvest that normally comes in June and into July.  These berries are usually smaller than the fall harvest.  After the June harvest, these vines will die and should be trimmed out if possible.  The canes that will continue to grow and those that are dead are clearly distinguishable when you know what you are looking for.  In the picture below, you can see dormant (brown) and dead (grey) vines.  Ideally the ones that are now grey would have been pruned in July, but if not then they should come out in spring.

Dead and dormant vines
You can see from the grey color which vines are dead and need pruned out. The dormant ones maintain their brown color.

To prune the dead vines, clip them close to the ground, and remove them from the patch so they don’t pass disease and pests to the next crop.

Cut the dead vines right at the base of the ground and remove the vines from the patch.

The increased air flow and sunlight from having properly pruned your berry patch will result in a delicious and healthy harvest.

bowl of berries
The better care you take, the better will be the result of your harvest.

Categories: Food garden

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Garden Spring Cleaning

I really wanted to spend some time outside today, but it was just too chilly with the wind to spend much time outside.  So, I ended up working in my garden.  It had gotten a bit out of control, so I had to clean the place up.

Messy office
The office was in need of serious cleaning after the spring planting season.

This is how I operate.  I get into the midst of things and clutter gathers in piles.  Then, the time comes and it is time for me to clean everything up and get it back to a state of normalcy with a place for everything and everything in its place.

Along the way I found a way to add another light to my upper deck.

Indoor garden
The final stage of my home office greenhouse

With this little rig, I could have 9 or 10 trays of seedlings.  It is designed to allow the sun to shine directly onto all of the trays, and then that is supplemented by three sets of fluorescent grow lights.

This year I started my plants around March 15, some earlier than others.  By now I am able to see which pots have failed to germinate, and which have more than one plant in them.  So, today I had a chance to sit there and talk to my mother on the phone about nothing in particular and transplant plants from pots with more than one into pots that hadn’t germinated.  It may not seem like much, but it is a chance for me to get a head start on spring and get my hands in the dirt.

Tomato seedlings
View from inside the indoor garden

It looks like spring, it smells like spring, and it gives me a jump on the gardening season.  We can expect our last frost on May 15.  By then most of these will be 8 weeks old, the perfect age for transplanting.

And as a bonus, my wife no longer has to walk by and be distressed by the amount of dirt I bring into the house in the spring.

Peace!

KT

Day 12

Categories: garden

Day 5: Our remains are not all that are left behind

Dried Daisy seed pods
Looking at the remains of life, we see only the path that was taken and  the things encountered along the way.

Walking through the garden when winter is leaving and spring hasn’t arrived gives you a chance to reflect on what was, think and plan for what will be.  Every year I say that my garden is too big, and next year I am going to cut back.  Every year, my garden gets bigger.

Last year, I was finally successful in giving my wife a garden of white daisies.  She had subtly hinted about it for several years and I finally picked up the hint.  Those beautiful white daisies, petals withered and dropped to the ground, left behind a sculptured garden of patterns and the illusion of motion.

Stiff enough that they don’t blow in the breeze, they illustrate the paths that each stem and flower took to find a way to find the light that they needed to grow and to thrive.  They also left behind patterns in their skeletons that some would say are as beautiful as the flowers were themselves.

I guess that is true of all things to some degree or another.  We sprout, we grow, hopefully we thrive, and all the while we are taking a path that no other living thing has ever taken before, and no other thing will ever take again.  And then we die.  And what we leave behind is the shell of our living self, the path we took, and all the things we encountered and influenced along the way.  For good or for bad, this is the way of life.  That is why we are here.

The only way to have an interesting life is to do interesting things.  Live your life in a way that you will be proud to look back on when you have nothing left but the path you chose and the interactions you left behind.

Peace!

KT

Categories: Friends garden Pondering

Day 3: Frayed, Abused, Strong

Frayed rope that serves as a lock on the garden gate.
The lock that guards the gate to my garden.

You know, I’m not really sure what to say about this image.  Anything I say will give you a glimpse into my state of mind, and that is not something that I am currently eager to share.  But that is why we are here after all isn’t it?

I guess the reason I am drawn to this image is because it looks the way I feel.  A bit frayed, a bit abused, but stalwart in its dedication to what it is.

I am living in a state that seems to have decided that what I stand for is no longer important.  What I do is no longer of value.  They stand outside the garden and see the fruits of our work, and fail to recognize that without us there would be no fruit, or at least the fruit would not be as healthy, as vibrant and as nourishing.

So they want to nip us in the bud, cut back our nourishment, starve us of water and cull those that don’t mass produce fruit that does not pass a test that has nothing to do with its value.  They want portion control and ability to ship.  They don’t seem to see that it is in the variety that comes from from a diverse crop that is the true value of the garden.  They think it is okay to cull the plants that prefer the shade, or produce oblong fruits when the carton is made for round.

They do not value the flower that can not be mass produced and marketed because they do not value the garden, they only value the money they can make from the garden.  They fail to realize that a garden with just one plant will grow sterile.  They do not see the importance of the bee or the spider so they squash them and kill them, poison them and demonize them.

As time passes they take and they take, not recognizing the need for land to be nourished and occasionally to sit fallow.  They expect more and more from less and less.  And then when the time comes that it can no longer produce, they blame everything but themselves.  They take it out on the rope that holds the gate, and on the gate, and on the plants and any bees that remain.  And they wonder why the soil is depleted, and there is not enough food.  So they pull up the fence, and destroy the gate for surely it must be their fault.  The garden is after all within their bounds.

The one thing they never seem to realize, is that if you value the fruit, you must value  and nourish the garden.  You must repair and maintain the fence and the gate.  And sometimes, you need to reach out and nurture the rope that holds the gate that protects the garden that grows the food that feeds the people.

It is time we stop demonizing the people that put their lives into serving society.  Stop with the bullshit, and start with the composted manure.

Peace!

KT

Categories: Education garden