Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, June 25

Well, it is officially summer! Forecast here is 105 degrees. How about where you are?

The great spring photo above, of Gravenstein apple blossoms, is from Kindltot.

Edible Gardening

STRAWBERRIES ("Tribute") did their normal thing this May. My little 4' x 4' patch put out about a bowl full of berries every day for two solid weeks before petering out. They're allegedly everbearing, but after June 1 any berries they produce are too small and too few.

RASPBERRIES: My mixed bramble of everbearing raspberries is cranking out the berries right now on last year's canes. Later this summer I should get berries from the new canes.

GOOSEBERRIES: My Hinnonmaki gooseberry bush had a big crop this year and I was counting on making several gooseberry pies, but just as they started to ripen the chipmunks started stealing them. (Those are some brave little rodents to get up in a gooseberry bush, which is covered in thorns.) I grabbed the few berries that they missed and decided I had to do *something* to enjoy my mini-crop, so I smashed them and added some sugar and made sort of a compote, then put it on top of vanilla ice cream. It was really good! It reminded me of - well - gooseberry pie with vanilla ice cream.

All the best,
Cumberland Astro

I'm no gardener, but I moved to a small acreage a few years ago, and just start planting berry/fruit shrubs and trees all over the place.

After getting back from my (second) deployment to Kosovo last fall, I
got solar panels on my roof, and decided to take out a few trees next
to my house. Jumping into a major project with no planning, I cut a
few down myself, (wisely had a pro cut down the bigger ones), and
started mulching the remains to start a raised bed garden.

Planted TONS of seeds indoors ahead of time, labelled with a bunch of
popsicle sticks I had laying around and Sharpie. The next day, I saw
they soaked up water and all the writing ran to the point of
illegibility, so half my garden is a mystery....and may remain so for
some time, as I may not be able to ID stuff until it's well formed!

Last fall I submitted a few pictures of medlar fruit from a couple of
my trees. This year, I have at least one young quince fruit growing,
and some aronia/chokeberries as well.

My asparagus grew long, but limp, indoors, and when planted outside,
it...fell apart? It looked like something was biting the tops off, but
not eating it? Very odd. My sister-in-law gave me a few asparagus root
stalks, so I just planted them in the same zone of the garden. Now, I
have new growth from the seedlings, and what looks like proper
asparagus from the rootstalk.

Ambitious:

Young quince:

Asparagus:

Ever heard of this pepper?

Don't know if these mushrooms are wild or cultivated:

Chard and cucumber:

Violet cauliflower:

Today's Adventure

Family-friendly, Rocky Mouth Falls Trail near Sandy Utah.

Gardens of The Horde

PEONIES are somewhat new to me, but my wife asked me to plant them last year for cut flower purposes. They were semi-productive last year, but this year they provided us an abundance of stunning blooms.

Cumberland Astro

Thanks for the great update and photos! Love the peonies!

Hope everyone has a nice Weekend. If you didn't see your photos here today, check again next week.

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? June 18, featuring Amaryllis, Olives and Mangoes in Israel, Wildflowers in the Oregon woods, Poison Oak and Poison Ivy, and Special Visits from Vultures.

Any thoughts or questions?

The comments here are closed so you won't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 01:19 PM

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