Currant Madness

During the past couple of weeks, we've been picking currants planted throughout the development.   We have six bushes ourselves, which have yielded much more than I had expected. The red and white varieties seem to ripen all at once, which makes the picking process much easier.


The black ones on the other hand seen to ripen individually, so instead of plucking whole clusters, we picked these one by one.  I've never picked coffee before but I imagine it's a lot like this.  And unlike the white and red ones, which have a sweet/tart taste, the black one are much more interesting.  They are less juicy than the others and have a flavor that's musky and almost spicy. 


Just to give you a sense of scale, the Red Lake currants on the right are somewhat smaller than the unknown red variety on the left, but I think they have more flavor.


And while the black currants are more time consuming to pick, the red and white ones require more processing time.  But once you got into a groove, striping the berries seemed like therapeutic work. 


Just part of the harvest - we picked enough for several batches of wine, including one for each variety.  I think I'll also try making wine from a blend of the three.  And there will still be enough left over for jellies, syrups, cordials.

What's In Season - White Currants

I was excited to find yesterday that the white currants were ready to be picked.  The reds still need another week or so and the black currants are ripening a few at a time.  


We have one small white currant bush, which was covered underneath a thick canopy of tall weeds.  I was surprised that we able to get exactly a pound of fruit.  I have BIG plans for these!

Strangely, this year I'm more excited about all of the fruit shrubs we have growing around our unit than I am about my vegetable garden.  It's nice to have such a big reward from so little effort!

Fruit Propagation Update

The cranberry plants I divided earlier this year are putting on lots of new growth.  I have about a dozen potted plants now from the two that I purchased three years ago.  Strangely, they haven't produced many flowers (and hence, fruit) during this time. I wonder if there is something I should be doing that I'm not.


I also have seven raspberry plants that I grew from suckers taken from our old garden.  After I potted them up, I placed them inside a sealed plastic bag for about a month until sufficient roots formed to support the foliage.  I love this everbearing variety and was glad that they survived.  They've since been moved to my community garden plot.

On the left-hand side are black and red currant hard wood cuttings that I took in early spring.  I removed about half of the buds and applied some rooting hormone to the cut ends before potting them up and placing them into a sealed plastic bag for about 6 weeks.   From the 6 cuttings that I took, 4 went on to root successfully.  I imagine they all would have survived if I'd noticed that they'd become infested with whiteflies and tiny leaf-eating caterpillars while they were covered in plastic.

Soon, I plan on taking even more cuttings from from all of the fruit shrubs around our townhouse.  It'll be a few years before we settle into a more permanent home. By then, I hope to have a ton of potted fruit shrubs ready to be transplanted. 

Berry Update

We have four pathetic looking blueberry bushes in the back of the house but surprisingly, they all have a fair amount of blueberries on them.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we might actually be able to pick a few this year...that is if the birds stay away.  I'm also going to try rooting some green stem cuttings later on this summer.

The red and black currant bushes are loaded with fruit.  I'd like to dry the black ones and make red currant jelly if we get enough.

Although I've never picked them before, currants seem rather tedious to harvest.  However, the little clusters of fruit sure do look inviting.  The leaves themselves also have a wonderfully pungent wine-y dark fruit scent to them. 

The gooseberries are fattening up as well.  It's another soft fruit that I've grown to love.

In addition to these, our raspberries are growing like gangbusters and there are a ton of flowering blackberry canes growing wild all around the development.  I've been told that they are suspected to be a cultivated variety that was planted by someone before the land was developed here so I might dig up a few plants to take with us if ever we decide leave this wonderful home we're renting.  

Red Currant Bush

The red currant bush next to our townhouse is blooming like crazy this year.  This variety is called 'Red Lake'.  I was worried that the warm Spring we've had so far coupled with the few nights of frost we've had recently would mean death to the clusters of tiny buds but they seem to be developing unscathed.

The bud clusters look really interesting up close.  I wonder if the flowers pollinate easily without assistance as I haven't seen many bees active yet this spring.

Strawberry Jar Update

My potted strawberries aren't doing as well as I would have liked.  I think I'll transplant them to the community plot in a week or two.

We did end up getting a few strawberries in April. 


They were tiny but very sweet.

Spring Cleaning

A few weeks ago, we began the task of cleaning up the raised beds behind our townhouse.  The beds had been left unattended to for at least the past year so much of the work involved lots of weeding.  Here, Marc is clearing out the crowded strawberry bed.  This is where I'll be growing much of my tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and string beans.  

I haven't done too much planting up until now.  The snow peas, shell peas and fava beans have sprouted but are growing rather slowly.  I also transplanted some spinach, lettuce and Asian greens not too long ago.  The rest will have to wait until May as temperatures are expected to reach down into the low 30's later on this week.


A while back, I also began work on cleaning up the overgrown soft fruit bed beside our unit.  I pruned back many of the shrubs, removed lots of dead branches and cleared out most of the weeds. Now all it needs is a top dressing of some good compost.

I wouldn't say that I know all that much about pruning fruit trees and shrubs.  Mostly, I pruned each shrub to a manageable size and shape and removed dead and crossing limbs.  I'm looking forward to seeing this elderberry bush in fool bloom.

As you can see from this picture, the raspberries have taken over much of this bed. I suspect that it's an everbearing variety because I remember seeing some fruit on the canes when we visited last December. In any case, I pruned back the tops and will wait to see if they produce an early summer crop as well. It's hard to see in this picture but there are also two black currant bushes behind the raspberry canes.

In addition to the black currants, there are also white and red varieties in the bed. The "Red Lake" currant bush in particular is loaded with buds. Hopefully it will produce well this year.


In addition to two dwarf cherry trees beside our unit, there's also a shrub that's described as a "bush cherry" in this bed.   I'm not quite sure what this is but it's flowering profusely right now.  I'll have to do some googling.

 

Finally, the four sorely neglected blueberry bushes don't look like they've done much growing thus far. Hopefully that will change as I would love to take some green wood cuttings this summer.

Fall Strawberries

After months of doing virtually nothing, my 'Seascape' day-neutral strawberries are finally starting to take off. I had planted my crowns earlier this year and wasn't able to harvest a single strawberry all summer long because of the garden rodents. A better gardener would have applied some protection early on, but admittedly, I was rather ambivalent until now.


Now that the plants are starting to flower and fruit in abundance, I'm finally realizing that it would be foolish to let the critters continue to have their way.

Seascape isn't the only variety I'm growing currently. I have another ever-bearer called 'Sarian' that I started from seed. The plants are relatively compact and disease resistant and the small berries are somewhat elongated. Unfortunately, Sarian is nowhere near as tasty as Seascape.


It took me about 15 minutes to cover my strawberry bed with some bird netting. (Why did I wait so long to do this?) I'm sure the field mice would be able get though if they really wanted to, but I'm hoping that the netting will at least encourage them to move on to an easier target. We'll see I guess.


Now is also the time to root some runners. Surprisingly, my two dozen or so plants have collectively produced only five runners. Hopefully, they will be a little more vigorous next year now that the crowns and roots are well established.


For the longest time, I felt as though it was futile to try and keep the rodents away from my berries. Then the other day, I picked this perfectly ripe strawberry and yes, it tasted as good as (if not better than) it looked. Now I'm more determined than ever to protect my plants from any would-be attacker.

Around the Garden - A Slow Start

How Depressing....the weather forecast is predicting nothing but rain for the next five days. As I walk around the garden, I can't help but to compare this spring to last year's. Everything seems to be growing slower this time around. Is it just me or are my fellow gardeners living in New England noticing this as well? Hopefully it's just my imagination.

I caved this year and purchased a Asian permission tree. This is a non-astringent variety called Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro that is supposed to be hardy down to our zone 6. I have it growing in a pot that is the size of a half barrel. I know, I know - I'm not expecting much from it in this potted state but I couldn't find it in me to plant it in the ground. If we end up purchasing a new home within the next few years, I wouldn't want to leave it behind just when it was starting to produce. Call me selfish. As a result, it'll have to spend the next few years of its life in this pot. I will however plant two less-exotic fruit trees from Home Depot and leave them for all future owners of our home.


The only things seemingly unaffected by the weather are the wild strawberries. Hopefully we'll be able to pick some of these tasty little yellow and red nuggets of strawberry goodness soon.


My red onion sets are looking good. I have a feeling I planted them too close together though (about 4 inches apart). As you can see, some critter did away with two of my Brussels sprouts! I had to buy transplants today to make up for this loss.


My Napoli carrots have germinated very well - close to 100%! I'm excited to see how they will grow in my raised box. On the other hand, only 50% of my Paris market carrots germinated. I hate having to reseed gaps.


The fig trees I purchased last year are showing signs of life. I really hope we get some fruit this summer. To increase the chances of this, I really should move all of my fruit trees to a sunnier location.

Tasty Blackberries

The wild blackberries are starting to ripen. For the past week, we've been enjoying this tasty mid-summer treat. The bush that we have produces a very good crop, but they've yet to make it into the kitchen. Since this is my first blackberry bush, I've learned so far that the berries are at their sweetest when harvested a couple of days after they've turned black. This gives them time to really plump up. I noticed that there are a couple of other young blackberry plants growing along the stone wall. I'm imagining future summers of endless blackberry shortcakes, trifles, sponge cakes, and tarts. Yum.

Balcony Plants

I thought I'd do a post on what I have currently growing on my balcony. In a little over two weeks, we will be closing on our new house...every exciting and stressful at the same time. I hope my plants enjoy their new home.

Unfortunately, my strawberry plants are not producing well this year. These are plants I started from crowns a year ago. Some of them didn't make it through the winter, which is to be expected. I should have re-potted with fresh potting soil...oh well.

My dwarf top hat blueberry bush was loaded with flowers this spring. Too bad the birds have gotten to most of the fruit. I'll have to consider making a fruit cage or at least apply some netting in the new garden.

My lemongrass has definitely seen better days. It was started from a few stalks I purchased at the Asian market and flourished throughout last summer. It even overwintered pretty well inside our apartment. I think I set it out too early this spring and the ocean chill got to it. I'll probably chuck it and start all over again next spring. I'd like to come up with a plan to grow lemongrass in my garden, freeze most of the harvest in the fall, overwinter a few stalks inside, and plant the root divisions the following spring.

My kaffir lime is doing very well. I purchased it as a start back in January. It came in a 2 inch pot and has since put on considerable size. I'm hoping to be able to harvest some leaves and fruits within the next couple of years.

Finally, my rosemary is looking lovely again this year, deep green and tinged with burgundy. I hoping it will flower one of these days.