New Herb Bed

Today I dug out all the raspberries to take to Dave and Marna.  Then I fertilized the bed and planted a row of garlic.  Next I moved my herbs from against the back of the house into the new bed.  I now have sage, parsley, marjoram, oregano, thyme, and chives.  Next spring I'll put in some dill.  Maybe something else, who knows.

I also dug up the Beckyberries, boysenberries, and four blueberry bushes to take to Dave.

Beckyberries and Boysenberries Trimmed

I've now trimmed all the Beckyberries and Boysenberries down to the ground.  There are no leaves, which means no stinkbugs, but it may also mean no more berry bushes.  There is a chance they may not come back.  It's drastic, but it seems like the only way to get a handle on the stinkbugs.  As soon as the yard waste can is empty I'll do the same with the raspberries.

Lots of Happenings

The battle of the stink bugs continues.  They have started in on the beans, so I've pulled out the bush beans a bit early.  The pole beans are still there, although we haven't picked any yet.  I'm trying to keep them clear of the little beasts.  Here is where the bush beans were.  I've now sown some kohlrabi.

And here is where the bush beans are, along with lots of stink bugs.  I'm hoping they'll all bake, and then in a few days I can dump them into the yard waste.

My plan for next year is to grow only bush beans, maybe three small plantings, and cover them with netting. 

The black zucchini is not looking good.  The leaves are turning yellow and drying.  I would say maybe they aren't getting enough water, but the yellow squash is very healthy.

In the last couple of days I've started rutabagas and parsnips in the bed where I harvested the garlic.  I've also started several more rows of carrots and four six packs of kohlrabi.  I've finally picked some ripe tomatoes (Stupice) and there are lots of peppers.  There are also a couple of Japanese aubergines that look ready. 

The Beckyberries and boysenberries are finished, and the blueberries are winding down.  They all ripened earlier than usual with the heat we've had. 

Fruit Report

We've picked the first blueberries (Earliblue) and had a couple of pickings of strawberries.

The raspberries and Beckyberries are a little further behind, but the Beckyberries are starting to show some color.

Oh, and the nectarine tree still has quite a few small fruit.  Some are damaged by leaf curl, so they'll probably fall off.  But some still look good.

Berries Fertilized

Today I gave the blueberries and Beckyberries the first of their three doses of fertilizer.  I gave each blueberry bush 1/4 c. of all-purpose fertilizer and each Beckyberry plant 1/3 c.

Yesterday I moved most of the tomato starts into 4" pots.  They are now in the cold frame.  A few of them have still not germinated.

More Cleanup

With the rain and cooler weather, the tomatoes were looking sad, so I've pulled them out.  I also pulled the peppers and aubergines.  And the old strawberry bed has also been cleaned out.  I dug in a bag of dry leaves in each one.  Those are the only beds that are empty right now.

The Beckyberries were already becoming too dense, so I trimmed all side shoots up to the where they were tied to the wires.  At some point I'll have to let a few new shoots develop.

We decided that we were not really enjoying the various blackberries out in front, so those have been removed.  The raspberries are still there.

The spinach that I planted a week ago is up.  I hope it has time to grow before it gets really cold.

Dehydrated Tomatoes

Today I tried dehydrating some of the Debarao tomatoes.  They came out really well.

I also cut back the berries in the back.  I left just four trimmed canes on each of the Beckyberries and six trimmed canes on the Boysenberry.  I'll be anxious to see how they produce next year.  In the past I've left lots of side branches on the canes and left six canes per plant. 

Berry Report

Today we picked all the berries, and here's the report.

The boysenberries are pretty much finished, but there are still some beckyberries to come.  The beckyberries started a little earlier and produced a bigger crop than the boysens.

The raspberries have slowed down, but there are still some of the single season ones coming.  The loganberries are finished.  They were a bit of a disappointment.  There were not a lot of them, and what there was were hard to pick.  They need to be picked while they are still somewhat red.  I'll give them another year to prove themselves.

The marionberries are finished.  They were a little more tart than the others.

The prime-ark blackberries continue to produce.  There are even some flowers on them.  David doesn't like them, but I do.  They have more of a traditional blackberry taste.

The strawberries are picking up again, after a brief hiatus.  There are quite a few flowers coming.

We picked lots of blueberries today.  The Earliblue and Spartan are finished, but the Jersey and Legacy are just starting and have loads of berries coming.

The Chandlers are huge.  There's no way I could use them in muffins.

Beckyberries

Today we picked the first two ripe Beckyberries.  They are still my favorites.

We're about to leave for a week-long RV trip.  I hope we don't miss all of them.

Apple Bags

Today was the day to put the little net bags on the tiny apples.  There isn't going to be much of a crop this year.  Only two apples on North Pole, a dozen on Golden Sentinel, and about two and a half dozen on Red Sentinel.  I suspect a pollination problem.  We didn't arrive home from our trip early enough for me to hand pollinate them, and maybe it was too cold and wet for the bees.

Today I planted five unnamed varieties of dahlias that I got on sale.  I thought all mine in the ground had died.  But I found that several are alive.  So now I have lots.

All the berries are blooming, front and back.

New Berry Fence

Today we put in new posts on the wire fence supporting the Beckyberries and Boysenberry.  The hardest part was untangling the canes from the old wire.  It took me most of the morning.  Wrapping back on their new (higher) wire was a lot easier.

New Berry Bed

I've removed all the plants from the side garden, outside the guest room.  It had been a hodgepodge of things, some waiting for more permanent homes.  I added a 1.5 cu. ft. bag of compost to each of three spots along the back, as well as all-purpose fertilizer.  Then I moved two boysenberry plants from their old home in the bed with the Beckyberries, and a start of Triple Crown berries that I poached from next door.

Along the front of the bed I added four bags of compost and fertilizer and planted 17 small Seascape strawberry plants taken from the older bed.

The Triple Crown does not look good (I really had to wrench it out) but everything else looks good.

Some Tidying Up

Yesterday morning we decided to try to clean up at least one of the walkways in the garden.  It had gotten to the point that walking along the two main north-south paths was nearly impossible.  To add to the peril, the shut-off valves for the drip irrigation are along that path.  So we put up a piece of metal fencing along the potatoes and a couple of small fence pieces along the edge of the beans.  I then put in stakes to hold the melons back.  It's great.  Now we can walk safely back to get to the east-west beds.

The other path, the concrete one, is still tricky, but we really don't need to use it.  It's possible to access those beds from the other side.

In the afternoon I declared Beckyberry season officially over, so I tackled the job of cutting back the old canes and tying up the new ones.  It took several hours, but it's nice to have it done.  The boysenberries are not finished yet, so I left them to do later.

Zucchini

Yesterday I picked the first four small squash for dinner.  They were the portofinos, and they were yummy.

We have tiny beans coming on the bush beans.  And the pole beans have started to bloom.  The nasturtiums growing at their feet are gigantic.

The strawberries are finally blooming again, so we should have some berries soon.  The raspberries are nearly finished, and the Beckyberries are winding down.  Yesterday I picked two large ziploc bags full.

In the front yard, the sedums are blooming, and the bees, of all kinds, are in heaven.

I think I've finally finished shuffling the plants and pots around on the deck.  I'm particularly fond of the arrangement in the green pot.  It has a flax in the back, with red-veined sorrel and white bacopa.   The variegated creeping Jenny in the urn is also working well.  The nasturtium in the blue pot has turned out to be a thug.  I've had to cut it back several times.

Garlic

The garlic has started to die, so I've turned off the water to their bed.

The Beckyberries are still going strong.  The boysenberries are just starting to be ripe
These are the Beckyberries.  Even though the birds don't seem alarmed by the flash tape, they are not eating the berries. 

We have our first little squash.  I hope the bees have found the flowers.

Beckyberries and Blueberries

Today we got our first Beckyberries.  I've put up some flash tapes, and so far the birds have mostly left the berries alone.

The blueberries are just starting to turn color, and the birds have found them.  So we put up a cage of bird netting.

The top and ends are attached, but the long sides open.

I don't remember posting this, but we've had raspberries for about a week.

Leaf-footed Bug

I've found a new  bug, this time on  the Beckyberries.  I had a feeling it's not one of the good guys, and I was right.  There were four of  them, and they're now chilling in  the freezer.

Blooming Things

The Turkish poppies have started blooming.  There are only a few plants, and each flower lasts just one day.  But I still love them.

 The Grayswood Pink cistus has also started blooming.

 The Beckyberries are blooming.

 As are the thornless Boysenberries.