Independence Days Update: Procrastination Pays
For months I have been looking at the two blackberry bushes we planted, excited at their phenomenal growth but dismayed at our lack of trellising for them. They sprawled all over a large garden bed, cascading into pathways and onto the driveway. Over the past few weeks I have also watched the leaves of our blueberry plants turn orange while many canes on our raspberry plants died off. I finally decided to tackle our multiple berry problems this weekend only to discover that we had been doing the right things all along! I pulled out a few gardening books and read that blackberries are biennial, bearing fruit on wood that is in its second year (we should have a bumper crop next summer) and that gardeners are advised not to trellis the blackberry in its first year but to let it grow freely. Excellent! The blueberries normally turn autumnal shades in the fall and the canes of our everbeary raspberries naturally die off after they have fruited twice and should be cut to the ground. Perfect! For once, procrastination has paid off. And prehaps I should consult my library of gardening books more often. This past week we:
1. Plant Something or Take Care of Something You’ve Planted:
- Planted bareroot strawberry crowns (about 35). These were free to me as a result of a mix-up by the nursery. I have 65 more in the fridge to plant and another 100 arriving January 1st. Thomas helped me plant them in the backyard and was a bit confounded by their appearance. They certainly don’t look anything like strawberries, more like a cluster of half-dead roots (which is, indeed, what they are). I explained to him that they would grow green leaves, then flower, and finally produce berries. He was satisfied with that explaination, however, he is not clear on the timescale and wanted to check on them about every 4 hours to see if they had produced any leaves/flowers/berries yet.
- Pruned back the portion of our raspberries that fruited in the fall.
Squashed more broccoli worms. Ick. We now have baby broccoli heads on all of our broccoli and I am determined to get a good harvest. The worms must die.
2. Harvest something:
- A few strawberries; all rapidly consumed by Thomas. Half of them weren’t even red yet, but he claims that they taste “good”.
3. Preserve something:
- Sigh. Not this week. And I don’t hold out much hope for this next week with Christmas.
4. Prep something:
- Received a bunch of used toys and games from my uncle. Sorted through what to keep as presents for Thomas in future years and what to give to charity.
5. Cook something new:
- Butternut Squash Soup. Verdict: It was very good, although I only used 1/2 the cream cheese that the recipe called for. And I used leeks instead of onions. And I added shallots. And I used veggie bullion. And I omitted the black pepper. And I added nutmeg. OK. I totally changed the recipe, but that is what I do! I can count on one hand the number of recipes I have ever made without modifications. Jeff once said that I use recipes like a hiker uses a compass. Simply to guide me in the right direction. An apt description.
6. Manage your reserves:
- Purchased 25 lbs of bulk rolled oats. When disaster strikes we shall have oatmeal!
7. Work on local food systems:
- Finished the holiday food gifts. I made boxes of homemade caramel corn and spiced nuts (using rosemary from our garden) for friends, neighbors, and distant family members. I have more homemade food gifts for family, however, those won’t be revealed until Christmas Day.