Check out my post from yesterday to hear briefly about my half marathon. I will be putting out a detailed race report in the next couple of days.
Last year when I was starting my garden, I knew I wanted to grow some fruit. I planted strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. Unfortunately raspberries don't produce any fruit their first year, strawberries only put off a kind of pitiful crop in their first year (at least for me) and the blackberry plant died.
But raspberries come back STRONG in the second year. I planted one small plant and this year I have probably 20 or 30 shoots. The shoots I don't believe put out fruit this year, but the branches from the original plant are already giving me berries.
There are many many berries already formed from last years wimpy branches. I think I am going to be hit with a surplus when these puppies ripen. Have you ever frozen raspberries? Is there anything special I need to do - I was thinking to just throw them in a freezer bag and freeze.
I am excited to see how many berries I get next year. Wikipedia warns about raspberries taking over gardens with their shoots. My garden is so big and kind of hard to keep up with, so I am happy for the raspberries which don't take much work to take over a good piece of it.
More fun in the garden, we have more lettuce than we know what to do with! Any advice on how to package this up to give it away?
My broccoli plants grew a bunch more shoots after the main head was cut. Score!
Not really related to the garden except that we set this up right next to the garden and it keeps my son very happy while I am gardening, the toy story slip n' slide. Possibly the best $7.99 I have ever spent. He hasn't quite gotten the slide part down yet.
What childhood toys have you played with recently?
For the frozen raspberries, I would freeze them separated on a cookie sheet first, and then put those into a bag. That way they won't freeze in one giant chunk.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I played with a slinky just this weekend. I gave one to Jane's daughter & played with it as much as she did. =)
Agree with your previous commenter - freeze berries on a cookies sheet first.
ReplyDeleteWe planted 900 feet of raspberries this year! OMG! We won't get many berries, but the next few years we will be overloaded!
LOVE that you planted fruit!
That's great to know about raspberries. I had no idea. Berries are so fun!
ReplyDelete@Jessica - oh wow 900 feet! You are going to have tons of raspberries.
ReplyDeletei always wanted a slip n slide! in fact, i don't think i've EVER experienced one. how sad!
ReplyDeleteIn undergrad the frats loved slip and slides, but I stayed away from theirs. I would love to buy one again, though.
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous you have raspberries growing right in your backyard! I would probably pick the bushes clean after a week though. ;)
ReplyDeleteoh that looks like too much fun!
ReplyDeleteI love the Slip N Slide! Your little guy is so ridiculously cute too. ;)
ReplyDeleteI definitely haven't played with these recently, but on the weekend a friend and I had a lot of laughs reminscing over our childhood barbies and tamagotchis :D
ReplyDeleteMmm... what I wouldn't give for raspberries in my garden! They've been $10 a punnet in shops here lately. Horrific!