Hubby and I do not have a garden. He wants one, but I know who’d end up doing the work, so have vetoed yearly. If you think I am kidding – four years ago we went to a local nursery and he decided he wanted some kind of fruit bearing bush. We decided on two blackberry bushes, one with thorns and one thornless. I figured if I ever got ambitious, I could graft them.
Over the last four years hubby has done a sum total of nothing with these blackberry bushes he had to have. I planted them, staked them, got the trestles (ok, I take it back, when I couldn’t sink the trestles far enough and they leaned, hubby fixed them), I fed them, debugged them, etc. I was even the one that harvested all the fruit!
About the same time that we purchased the blackberry bushes, I also bought hubby an AeroGarden that he had to have a few years ago. I figured if he could take care of that, maybe I was wrong about a backyard garden and he would take care of it.
The AeroGarden is still in the box.
Now to be fair, hubby still has time to decide on container gardening a few things… most likely tomatoes. Winter was pretty long up here in New York this year, so no early planting for us. And, I will not veto a container or two as I will tearing up my flower garden.
We do have that wonderful thornless blackberry bush in the backyard that produces sweet and delicious blackberries:
And one nasty, stick-to-everything, thorned blackberry bush that produces little fruit. I have to see if Hubby will help me yank it in the next few weeks as I want it gone! I do want to replace it with another thornless bush though. Believe me when I say if you have a lot of sun, and enjoy blackberries, a thornless blackberry bush is an easy to take care of fruit choice. I know some people have bird trouble and need to cover them, but *knock on wood* that hasn’t been an issue for us!
So, how does your garden grow? Are you planting one this year? Sticking with a CSA? Or just buying produce direct from a farmer or at the grocery store this year?
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Marie says
Still planting, at least I will when the danger of frost is over. I do have some plants in my garden that survived the winter like wheat and chest high cabbage and one lone lettuce plant. The wheat is for choking out weeds over the winter and for seeds which I plant indoors all winter for wheat grass for my cats. One new development that I’m amazed by is that I am growing a stick. Yes, that is correct, a stick. In the fall I cut back some sort of tree that keeps coming back in the honey suckle (husband’s favorite scent). I kept the long straight sticks and sunk half of them in the garden for stakes in the spring. Yesterday I noticed one of the sticks is sprouting leaves! Ann, my garden grows quite well.
KimH says
ROFL.. I love that.. You’re growing a stick.. So am I! 😉 Sometime during a nice unseasonably early spring day, I trimmed a really nice hydrangea from broken stems and stuck one that had some buds on it into a pot of potting soil I had near by.. I thought maybe it would propagate itself… and it has. I noticed that 2 of the buds are blooming so its got a root system somewhere.. I’ll dig it up in a month or so and I’ll have at least 2 new plants.. not that I have anywhere to put them. 😉 Oh well.. fun fun.
Marie says
When I purposely try it never works. I swear I wasn’t trying, honest. I had cut that stupid tree down for 3 years and it keeps coming back. This time when I kept the sticks, I had cut the tops and bottoms off. Wait…one of them is in the house! I suddenly got a Twilight Zone feeling. (Insert horror movie music.)
KimH says
ROFL.. isnt that the way it always is…
admin says
Growing a stick is something Hubby might be able to do. 😉 Glad to hear your garden is growing so well.
Ann
KimH says
Well, Im not doing any new spring gardening in the soil yet.. its too cold & wet so far..
My garlic is up that I planted last fall and looks good.. I’ve got 8 rhubarb plants that are coming along.. I transplanted 6 plants last fall to a new home and 3 bunches of chives to that new home as well. I also transplanted 3 blueberry bushes to the new bed after I planted a Chicago Hardy Fig there in the Spring last year. Everything is looking really good in that bed. I have 25 strawberry plants that I plan to put in that bed as well.. I’ve got straw in it right now but need to pull it back till I get my strawberries in, then I’ll put it back. I’ve never been a good strawberry grower so we’ll see if that has changed. 😉
I tried a new to me way to start some seeds this year.. Its called Winter Sowing and so far its working really good. You take milk jugs and make baby green houses from them and just leave them outside.. They’ll germinate when nature says its ready to. Right now, I have lots of Shasta Daisy, leeks, and a few other flowers (cant remember now what) that have germinated and a whole bunch of Calabrese Broccoli.
Im pretty tickled about this method!! Much less work than lights in the basement.
In the basement, I have loads of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower under the lights.. They’re doing real good.. I lost 3 6-pakcs of some brassicas because M’honey didnt water them but once while I was gone.. the tray they were in dried up faster than the others so they bit the dust. Not a big deal though.. I still have plenty of time to get them up since our community garden doesnt usually open till the end of May…
Still doing the CSA this year too and will supplement with a local farmers market for a few things.. I’ve started juicing and also making fermented veggies (kimchi) so there will be a few specific things I’ll be after that arent prolific in the CSA bag.. Either way.. looking forward to it.
KimH says
Oh, I did help my daughter dig up and plant a 5×5 garden in her back yard when I was there this past 2 weeks.. Had a good time too..
If anyone is interested in joining a 5×5 Garden challenge, Susy Morris from Chiots Run dot com is hosting a 5×5 Garden Challenge @ http://5x5challenge.com/
Every growing area has mentors and Im expecting it to be fun!
admin says
Wow, sounds like you have really planned, and expect great result this year Kim! Maybe I’ll take a road-trip come harvest time. 😉
Ann
KimH says
Well, I’ve been gardening most of my life so theres really very little planning going into it other than what to plant.. I’ll worry about where to put it when its time to plant. 😉
I have 2- 25×30 ft garden plots at a community garden and I manage to tuck most of it in.. I tend to tuck a lot here & there at my house too though I have no true garden there.. By late summer Im screaming cuz i have so much produce to put up.. but I’ve started dehydrating some of it too and that helps a LOT!
If you’re ever in the neighborhood, stop by! I cant promise the garden (or anything else) will look pristine..but I do promise you’ll walk away with something to eat by July…
Im trying a few new (to me) varieties of different plants.. so Im looking forward to the gardening season.
I used to have almost an acre garden, so this is small fry by comparison, but my cultivation methods have had to change too.. Such is life. 😉 Its still work..
Debb F says
I put 3 pepper plants in and a parsley plant. My flowers and my sage and chives are kicking butt! I am just getting started. Probably will put in 3 tomatoes too, hubby said it was still too early to plant them.
admin says
An herb garden would be cool I think – at least it would be useful to us. Good luck, Debb!
Ann
Debb F says
Hi Ann,
The wonderful thing about growing herbs is most come back each year and you really get a lot for your investment and it isnt that hard to do! I needed to buy sage for our thanksgiving meal 2 years ago and it is so expensive, I decided to not pay that ever again and grow some, bought a 2 dollar plant and am still growing the same plant now. I even harvested enough sage to send to our local homeless shelter for their thanksgiving meal! I have a Mr Coffee dehydrator and when I dry it, it makes the whole house smell great! Herb gardens are very low maintenance, hence right up my alley!
KimH says
herbwisdom.com/herb-sage
I dont know your age, but here is a page that has informed me mightily regarding what to do with sage.. I have 2 plants growing (one in a big pot & one in a bed) and neither will die.. haha.. I have no clue how or why I wound up with 2 but they’ve got to be 8 or 10 years old.. Mostly, they just sit there and I’ll break off branches for my friends & neighbors to fill their sage coffers.. 😉
Anyways, I ran across some info regarding sage & hormonal wellness & I was sold.. Havent tried it yet for that purpose, but I assure you I will this year. 😉 HTH