At last!

[prairiemom]

We had frost a week ago last Fri and Sat, so this last week I finally was able to get some planting done. On Fri, about 5pm I got all my gardens planted. That's 6 flower beds, a new herb garden (3'X45') and my veggie garden (40'X40')

We went to the garden center, intending to "only" buy a couple bushes/trees. We ended up buying several heirloom tomatoes we'd not tried a couple perennial flowers and a lemon thyme. One tomato we bought just because it has such an impossible name: Wapsipinicon Peach. And we bought another gooseberry and a currant bush.

The flooding has seriously stressed out our biggest plum tree. It hasn't even leafed out yet, although it has budded and shows signs of life. I hope it survives.

So I've spent the last 2 days trying to get all of this recorded in my garden journal--something else that I'm trying new this year: a very detailed record of everything planted, weather, how much each produces, etc. Also a map of the garden so I know how to rotate the crops next year.

And the asparagus is doing great! We are getting a bumper crop--enough for 2-3 meals every day. I guess I'm going to have to pickle some of it, probably using that Preserving Food without Canning or Freezing (PFWCF) book.

[prairiemom]

Tonight we are under a frost advisory.

[signseeker]

Well, if you want to co-miserate, my hay was cut on Saturday and has been rained on twice now. If I have to sell it as cow hay, I just lost... let's see... about a thousand dollars on this crop.

I also kept a gardening record this year. Not so much on the weather, but where I planted stuff and the dates.

Prairiemom- you do realize you are going to have tomatoes with fur? I don't mind peach fur myself, but fresh raspberries have always made me It's like taking a perfectly fine blackberry, licking it and rolling it in the shag carpet.

[Earthling]

How about black raspberries? I loved them as a kid but they are hard to grow. I ordered 6 plants - 2 each of 3 different varieties. Only one plant still survives after 3 years. It had reproduced a baby berry last year but my daughter dug it up thinking it was a weed. (tears) Any way, I shall press on with my last berry hoping to get what I remembered as a child.

P.S. there is no fur on black raspberries aka black caps.

[prairiemom]

I've heard from friends all over the country that this has been a cooler than average spring. But while you and I worry about our crops, the folks in the south are happy to not have their gardens already scorched.

I much prefer blackberries to raspberries, but they typically don't survive in our zone. We did buy some Doyle's Thornless Blackberries which they assure us will survive. This is year three and last year we got about 10 berries off the two bushes. I called and asked about the puny growth and production and that's when they told me "Oh, they need acid soil." Duh. Why didn't they mention that in any of their literature? So late last summer I started acidifying the soil and that's when we got the 10 berries. So I started early this spring acidifying the soil, but this is a very rich, dark, sweet soil and it will take a lot. In the meantime, we mulch heavily every winter to protect from freezing.

But I don't think they will ever produce as well as native plants. That's why we have Buffalo berry, Juneberry, Currant and Gooseberry. But they're all pretty young yet. I think the Goose berry will give us a lot this year.

Today I planted 5 of the 6 herbs that I ordered from Crimson Sage Farms. They got here yesterday. They are BEAUTIFUL plants. The shipping is steep (unless you do as I did and combine orders with friends.) but the plants are REALLY good. I got Pleurisy Root, Elecampane, Comfrey, Anise Hyssop, Angelica and Goldenseal. But the Goldenseal arrived broken, so they will be replacing that.

We've gotten about 12 lbs so far of asparagus from our 3yr old bed. We had Cream of Asparagus Soup yesterday. YUM!

[Lucy]

Our apricots are already ripe and ready to pick here in sunny St George! This is about 3 weeks faster than normal.