I just had my first taste of a home-grown blueberry. WOW!
There were only about 3-4 ripe berries. I can't wait for them all to ripen. I may have to get more blueberry plants! :D
Yardening June 2014
mm, nothing like fresh blueberries, SSG! :-)
SSG, I have a few Blue Berries on my bushes, too. Just planted them last fall not expecting much this year. I was so surprised when I saw a few of them on one of the bushes.
okay, now you all have me thinking of putting blueberries on my wish list, too! :-)
When i was watering all the shrubs Sunday--I was amazed that we had about TWO
full racks of all kinds of Blueberry bushes....
The "Highland" ones had a lot of berries on them--but all green.
I will chow on them if there are any ripe ones....cant go to waste!
BTW! HD just started a sale on African Violets. $1,49 each. That's 1/2 price.
There's loads of them!!
G.
SSG, there is a Trader Joe's in Gaithersburg. Will definitely go check it out. Thank you for the info.
Speaking of blueberries, how do you keep them from birds?
Donner, the birds haven't found my blueberries yet! They never bother the raspberries, either.
I've read that birds/squirrels will eat all the berries the night before you're ready to harvest. I hope not, since I was going to have my niece come over and harvest the berries with me! I'm thinking about covering the containers with bird netting in the next couple of days.
heheh--sounds like a variation of Murphy's Law. ;-) Hope the berries stay safe for harvesting with your niece!
donner---
We sell "Bird Netting" at the HD on big rolls.
You drape it over the shrubs and the birds can't get in there...
You can also drape the netting over your strawberries.
http://www.homedepot.com/s/Bird%2520netting?NCNI-5
G.
Target has castile / Dr Bronners'
I'm a hardenend veteran of the blueberry and bird wars. Barely ate a ripe berry first couple years. Now that my bushes are bigger, maybe they out produce what the local birds can eat. I've done various nets several times, its a chore but it does save the berries. Blueberries are very easy to grow in acid soil, and incredibly easy to pick, freeze, or eat too. I think I'm talking myself into more bushes!
I've had raspberries for over fifteen years and have never seen birds eat one.
I'm with Donner; I have such a hard time keeping up with threads sometimes, LOL!! OK, let me scroll up and see what I wanted to reply to...
Catmint and Gita, yes, I've had 3 Craneotomies.. they say "third time's a charm"! Heeheee... if I mentioned "Abby Normal", would that explain why the first 2 didn't "take"? LOL!!!!! OK, seriously, they were all for Trigeminal Neuralgia; first one was for the right side, the next 2 were for the left side. 2-day hospital stay for the first one (at 30 years old), 2-day hospital stay for the second one (at 40 years old.. heh heh, I'd told the Dr. I'd be out of there in 2 days, 'cause God had said so; he told me "NO WAY, you're not as young as you used to be!".. the day after surgery I was out of bed visiting the other patients in the neuro-ICU ward as I was bored.. he found me in the hallway and said "You're going home tomorrow"... I said "I TOLD YOU!!!!" < =D )... third surgery was actually what I call a "procedure" - needle into the nerve through the face, in between the space in the upper/lower jaw hinge. Out-patient, I was home later that morning... and at 7-11 getting coffee on the way home! =)
HollyAnn, I saw the pics you shared of Ric working on the pond/plants, and said out loud to myself "WOW, LOOK AT THOSE ROOTS!!!"... then scrolled down and had to laugh out loud! Hahahahaaa, WOW!!!! Ric, what's that tool you're using in the third pic? Is that your sawzall?
I was SERIOUSLY considering bringing home some blueberry bushes to "rescue" from work yesterday... but instead came home with more tomatoes (no idea what variety they are) and a bunch of lettuce. Too bad I left 'em in the truck over-night, 'cause it's POURING out there right now and I bet they'd love the drink!
Brought home 2 Walker's Low Catmint the day before and a Daylily.. they're sitting outside in the bed into which they're going to go, so they're getting a nice drink from God right now. :) My first time with either of those plants, I'm very excited! =)
Speedie, so sorry you have to deal with the Trigeminal Neuralgia. :-( I hope your pain is well under control!
Hope you enjoy all your new plants! Fingers crossed for lots of fresh tomatoes for you later in the summer!
Crossed fingers and wood knocked for some of my own fresh tomatoes for a change here too! Brought home 3 plants yesterday from work (love rescuing plants!), so I hope to install them later this morning. I'm also hoping my newly-installed Poblanos produce well for me, I love those things!!
Thank you Catmint, the pain is well under control now and has been for a long time. Face is mostly numb inside and out, right and left, but I don't care, I am pain-free! =) (but, if you ever see me drooling, I'm not going mad, just tired). Heeheeheee And, sometimes I will get a bit of food or sauce or something near my mouth and I look like a slob, but it's just that I can't feel it there! LOL!!!!!
Yep, That is the Sawzall, great tool for around the garden.
I just used it to cut 2 dead butterfly bushes off at ground level, then to cut roots as I dug the hole for the replacement plant. When I was much younger, I remember them being called plumber's saws because you can cut almost any where with one.
Boy that sounds super. We got one a few years ago. The next stump of any size we deal with will go much faster. We're getting too old SMART to deal with axing the roots all around...
yeah, I need something like a sawzall to use on the rose bush stumps that are left. I'm too old--er SMART--to do it any other way! ;-)
It really came in handy when we had all that damage to the Juniper hedge a few years ago.
I bought one of the Ryobi kits at HD, maybe 10 years ago. It came with a 1/2" drill, 5" circular saw, vacuum, light, sawsall, charger, and 2 batteries. I was lucky that this is the format they developed into todays 18 volt line of tools. I've replaced the drill and updated the charger and batteries to lithium ion, but otherwise it's still the same kit. I would imagine that they would be on sale now for Father's Day. The sawsall alone list for about $59.00, but then you would need a battery and charger. There are some good deals on eBay for them.
More weeding and planting in store for today here.
This message was edited Jun 12, 2014 7:17 AM
yes, I should get something like that--does come in handy for those stubborn stumps!
Do your redbuds get eaten? Some sort of caterpillar (I think) is taking big chunks out of the leaves. Most of the leaves are affected and I'm starting to get a little bit concerned.
With all the rain we've had this last week, my flowers have exploded!! I only went out to check on them & made sure the pots didn't fall over! Today is absolutely glorious, 82 right now, with clear blue skies & a little breeze! Hoping to head to my favorite nursery tomorrow & pick up some annuals for the patio shelf, need some color out here! My tomatoes are gifting me with super sweet, yellow Sun Gold tomatoes - picked some strawberries & the blueberries are ripening fast...won't be a big crop by no means - but, fun! Santa Rosa Gardens is having their annual summer sale & I HIGHLY suggest y'all check them out! Cannot beat their prices & quality plants! I'm def ordering tonite, want some Milkweed etc.
I thought I 'knew' weather until moving here! We've had some hellacious storms, with tons of rain (& the odd spawned tornado) - for whatever reason, our immediate area does not get hit by tornadoes, so we're very blessed, but they'll be literally all around us & the sirens are horrifying! Tonite is Farmers Market time, Huntsville has a great one every Thursday & we try to go there at least once a month...excellent produce & even plants!
SSG the holes in your red bud leaves might be from leaf cutter bees. Red bud is a tree that provides them with nesting material. They cut holes in leaves and use the material for nesting. A sign your garden is being put to good use by the pollinators!
Update on Santa Rosa's sale - just ordered 50 perennials (@ $3.20 per plant) for $160, free shipping & 10% off over 8 plants!!
Becky you are such an enabler! I ordered a bunch last year after you posted about their sale. Really nice plants.
okay, I am not even going to look at the Santa Rosa site, I am not even going to look, I am not even going to loo-- Darn!! ;-)
Chuckle! Always glad to be 'helpful' :-)
Catmint, I looked up leaf cutter bee damage online, but mine looks abit different. The critter eating my leaves has a bigger mouth! I'll post pics tomorrow.
I can't even look at the Santa Rosa site! :)
ssg, I have often had circular holes on the edges of my redbud leaves and never see the critter. I read something once that makes me think they are a beetle. at night.
ssg, you don't have any of these in your yard, do you?
Becky, got any pics please? I'd love to see how all those flowers have gone crazy for you now.
Ric, that is the scariest looking thing I've seen yet; if I see one of those in my yarden, I'll be running down the street screaming! < =0
ric, you crack me up
I think I'll try netting on our strawberries next year then. another year that we had lots of berries then they ALL disappeared. we have a LOT of birds and squirrels and chipmunks around. someone got their vitamin C and dietary fiber lol. We never had luck with blueberries either. Raspberries - plenty, like you said Sally, same for us. We have gooseberries on a small thorny shrub now, but to be honest, I've never done anything with them yet
we've had rain all week here. our canna border in the garden and everything (weeds and all) is growing well
LOL Ric--I think I definitely have some of those running around my yard--but all at night when I can't see them! ;-)
I noticed a gorgeous, almost-ripe strawberry on my one lone strawberry plant the other day--I'm hoping it makes it to maturity so we can harvest it. ;-)
Do this Santa Rosa plants come potted or bare root? The pricing seems like more of a bare root price.
Ok, you guys stink for introducing me to Santa Rosa. I just bought a few plants. The prices were too good not to buy. I read some of the reviews and it seemed like they were potted plants so I went with it.
The plants I got last year from SR were plug size.
Seq, they're definitely potted and very well packaged.
I ordered amsonia from them and was disappointed with the size, but the euphorbia and sedums from them were good sized and established quickly. They're more like the size of the North Creek hellebores, so bigger than their landscape plugs.
LOL Ric, I think that's definitely the creature!
Ric, grandpa's teeth! I've been wondering where they ended up.
haha Ric!
anybody have a cheap but good gas grill? We sure could use a new grill but we don't want a stainless steel ego machine Just a basic grill. Any recommendations? Or can we just take out the nasty innards of the current one Char Broil brand? and replace them?
I was spreading the rumor that last sunday was Fathers day, so we already had dinner out together for it- my theory being everyone else was grilling.