The Berry Business

Things started out great this year with the berries and our small garden.  We had a great harvest of raspberries and were just starting to get some really nice and plump blackberries.  We had Bell Peppers, Jalapenos and Tomato's growing in pots.  All had fruited and almost ready to be picked.

Then one day we get a hail storm and it just beat the shit out of everything. Maybe next year.

How things have changed

Last year around this same time I planted five new blackberry bushes and four new raspberries.   I am happy to report that they all came back this year. We are going to have a bumper crop this year.  New shoots for next year are coming up strong.

Blackberries

We had a great harvest of raspberries and now the blackberries are starting to ripen.  I have tried a couple and they were both pretty sour.  This is the second year for blackberries.  I went out and picked a bowl tonight and will see if they sweeten up.

Several suckers have shot up this year and are over six feet tall.  They won't produce berries until next year.

Berry Madness

Last year's berries plants all came back this year and it looks like it will be a record harvest.  We should hopefully have enough to be able to make raspberry and blackberry jams.  Jam making will be a first for me.  The grouping on the left is raspberry's and the flowering plant is the blackberries.  You can't see it from this picture, but further down there is another raspberry bush and another blackberry. 

Being that plants are doing so well, I decided to start two new garden area's and add some new plants.   Along the fence, I planted five blackberry's, two red raspberries and two yellow raspberries.   I planted them two weeks ago.  Been a while since I have made an entry in the blog.  I added some edging and mulch and it came out really nice.  Mowing along the fence was always a pain in the ass.  So with the new garden, we won't have to deal with mowing on the slope and the fence.  Better yet the sprinkler system will keep them wet, so I shouldn't have to hand water them.  From the time I planted to today, they have really taken off.   I won't expect much out of them this year or next, but year three they will really start producing, that is if I can keep them alive.   They get good sun for most of the day.

Then I moved my attention to our rock wall.  They are hard to see, but behind the berry plants I expanded the garden and planted five jalapeno and four tomato plants.  They are doing well and hopefully will take off and produce some fruit this year. 

In another area of the yard, I planted eggplant and squash.  They are growing but they only get a little sun, so not sure they are going to do so great.  We will see.

Candy made Clark and me hats to commemorate our hike in Phantom Canyon.  They are pretty sweet and a very thoughtful gift.  Here I am, posing for a picture with mine.

So the last couple weeks, we have just been working around the yard each weekend.  It has been really hot.  I blew up the pool and filled it with water and placed in in the only flat area that we have in our yard.  

When I needed to cool off from planting I would hop in the pool.   Yes, I am such a goober, but what can you do.  It was hot.

The yard is looking pretty good this year and excited about all the berries.  Hopefully all the new plants this year will take.   

Joe Walsh & The James Gang - Walk away (1971, HD)

I was jamming out to a little Joe Walsh this evening.  I was looking for some of his video's and there is not really much out there or at least that I could find.  I did include Walk Away, which is an awesome tune.




I worked on the Blackberry bushes this evening.  Each one has a shoot that is close to 7ft tall.   I had to figure out a way to keep them erect so that they wouldn't hang and break off.

I had a couple of starter scrub oaks behind the shed.  I cut them off at the base and then cleaned all the limbs coming off them.  Once cleaned now I had a half inch round, 6ft long shaft that I could use to support the blackberry shoot.  I used zip ties and attached it to the small trellis I had been using.  I can't wait until next year as this plant and my other should produce a lot of fruit.

I had a nice surprise when I was all done.  Candy had made us a chicken pot pie for dinner.  It looked so great that I had to take a picture.  It tasted even better.

More time on the trail

This week I have been trying to make a real effort to walk to work.   I did great on Monday, walked to work and got a ride home because we had lighting and showers.  Tuesday was a no go because I had a 7 AM face to face meeting and had to be in early.  Today I managed to walk to work and back home.  This helped me to get a little more distance, bringing me up to 9.79 for the week.

Candy and Pebbles both walked half way with me on Monday and Wednesday.   We have been able to get Pebbles off the leash a little and she loves that.  We have had a bumper crop of grasshoppers so Pebble is bouncing all over trying to catch them.  It's actually pretty funny.

My wrist band on my fitbit blew craps so I started using my GPS again.   The above are the routes that I have taken the last couple of days.

This evening I put the sprinkler on the garden and let it run for about an hour.   For about two weeks we were picking a bowl of raspberries everyday.   Well the first round of raspberries are done and now the black berries are starting to ripen.  I have two plants and they are both exploding.  The picture below is a close up and you can see how big they are getting and they are just starting to turn from red to black.

We picked one this evening and oh man it was good.   Going to be having some of these on my ice cream and cereal.

Last night I made plum icee's.  We bought some plums at the flea market and they were huge and ready to eat and they were awesome.   Several of them had really started to ripen and were getting soft.   I cut the core out and threw them in the blender and then added ice and a little honey.  Oh they were good.

While I was in the yard this evening I snapped a few other pictures of some of the plants we have growing.

Tiger Lilly

Yarrow

Daisy

I had some help in the yard this evening.  Pebbles was following me around and keeping and eye out for any wildlife.   I have to say this picture of her, looks like she may have gotten into some brownies.