Dear Friends and Gardeners (week 16)
Mmmm, good, mmm, good. That’s the report on raspberries from Ranch du Bois this week. So far I have had 7 reds (Heritage) and 7 golds (Fall Gold). Why the Fall Golds are ripening in June is beyond my horticultural knowledge, but they are tasty all the same. They are quite perfume-y and have a nice flavor, but the reds still pack the best wallop of true raspberry taste. The reds could be a little riper, as well. I think this cool, wet season has lessened their flavor. No, I don’t want it to warm up, 75-80 is my idea of perfect. I’d love to share some with you, but afraid they don’t travel too well. Ah! The joys of eating out of your own back yard.
It’s time for the June drop on my apple espaliers, too. At first I freaked out when I saw all the baby apples on the ground. Then I remembered that is normal – weird, but normal.
OH! I bought a little sumpin’sumpin’ special for myself (after all the hard work on the garden tour last week): a brown Mission fig tree w/about a dozen nice size green figs on it. How delish is that going to be? I think they are a couple of weeks from being ready.
My peas are but a foot high, slow, slow, slow. One had a very beautiful blossom on it, like you would find on a sweet pea. It was purple, pink and white. This is a variety I’ve not grown before, Russian Sugar Snap, so I didn’t know it bloomed quite like this. Nice bonus. And the green beans are up. Actually, they are Chinese Red Noodle Beans, not green at all. Only a couple inches, but up.
I’ve been roaming around the garden tucking in Cue Ball and Eight Ball and Romenesco zuke seeds anywhere I can find a spot: between the roses, between the perennials, along the fence line, near that big mud puddle, etc. Now to find space for the Big Red Warty Thing, a late season squash. No Indy, it’s not late season because that’s when I am planting it – late in the season – it matures in the fall. (Unlike some of us, who have never matured at all.)
Remember those dahlias I started in the black plastic pots? They are up about a foot, so it’s time to transplant them out into the garden.
Of course, the tomatoes are still growing. And I am still watching them.
Work, work, work. Lots of work in the garden. We had so much rain, the weeds are everywhere. The good news is, still, the ground is really soft and they come out easily. Plus, I can sit out there and eat raspberries as I weed.
Until next week my garden buddies, I’m yours in mud and berries,
MA
What a berry fun post. Sounds like you’ve been going a hundred miles an hour out there in your garden! My apple tree dropped a lot of its baby apples a few weeks ago. I think there are only two left on the tree. I’ll have to take a closer look.
I hope you get some ‘Cue Ball’ and ‘Eight Ball’ squash, you will really like them, I think, I hope.
[...] Carol and Mary Ann (and all of our gardening [...]
Hey darlin’ Mary Ann, I think Ranch du Bois sounds like heaven right now. All that rain, sun & lovely temps. Can I come visit? It’s 102F here.~~dee
Good luck with all that fruit growing. I think you are smart to concentrate on the foods that are hardest to get in the stores.
A fig tree is absolutely decadent! There are some Italian old timers around here who insist on growing figs. Every fall they have to bend the tree over and bury it in a trench. Too much work for me, though I just love the taste of fresh figs.