Everything's coming up berries
It has been a busy couple of weeks. First, I've been whittling away at the stacks of boxes in my bedroom. It's not done yet, but it's looking much better. Second, my neighbor helped me pick up my bamboo door, and I've been varnishing it. I finally put the last coat on today, so it'll be ready to bring in the house tonight.
We're currently in the middle of a heat wave, so I've had to spend more time than expected watering my plants just to keep everything alive. That ate a big chunk out of my schedule. I did get my grapes and raspberries pruned, so that was some progress. It's getting to the season where the yard is demanding, and things need doing RIGHT NOW or plants will die/fruit will spoil/beagles will eat the harvest. The cherries are ready for picking, which I had intended to do today, but as it happened I ran out of varnish and had to make a run to the store for more. I'll have to get the cherries tomorrow; they won't last much longer.
The blackberries are next up. The first ones will be ready in the next day or two. Once they start coming, I'll be inundated for weeks. My Santa Rosa plums are ripening; the trick with those is to catch them when they're completely ripe, but before they fall off the tree to where the dogs can get them. Benny spends a lot of time under the tree, peering upward, just waiting for one to fall. (He's already stripped all the low hanging ones off the branches...)
I've started picking early cucumbers. The earliest beans are starting to produce pods; the rest are in the middle of flowering. The corn put out ears this past week, and I'm hoping I planted them thickly enough that the wind will get them well pollinated. (At least we have no shortage of wind!)
My bees seem to be happy, for the most part. They aren't thrilled by the current heat, but that shouldn't slow them down for long. The hive's population is much stronger than last year.
During one of my shopping trips this weekend, I stopped at a Japanese grocery, and they were selling plant starts for purple sweet potatoes. I never tried growing them before because I always read that they needed more heat than we get here, but what with the temperatures the way they are right now, I figured I'd give one a try. I planted it in the front yard (so a certain beagle can't dig it up). If I'm lucky, it will be nice and toasty warm there.
We're currently in the middle of a heat wave, so I've had to spend more time than expected watering my plants just to keep everything alive. That ate a big chunk out of my schedule. I did get my grapes and raspberries pruned, so that was some progress. It's getting to the season where the yard is demanding, and things need doing RIGHT NOW or plants will die/fruit will spoil/beagles will eat the harvest. The cherries are ready for picking, which I had intended to do today, but as it happened I ran out of varnish and had to make a run to the store for more. I'll have to get the cherries tomorrow; they won't last much longer.
The blackberries are next up. The first ones will be ready in the next day or two. Once they start coming, I'll be inundated for weeks. My Santa Rosa plums are ripening; the trick with those is to catch them when they're completely ripe, but before they fall off the tree to where the dogs can get them. Benny spends a lot of time under the tree, peering upward, just waiting for one to fall. (He's already stripped all the low hanging ones off the branches...)
I've started picking early cucumbers. The earliest beans are starting to produce pods; the rest are in the middle of flowering. The corn put out ears this past week, and I'm hoping I planted them thickly enough that the wind will get them well pollinated. (At least we have no shortage of wind!)
My bees seem to be happy, for the most part. They aren't thrilled by the current heat, but that shouldn't slow them down for long. The hive's population is much stronger than last year.
During one of my shopping trips this weekend, I stopped at a Japanese grocery, and they were selling plant starts for purple sweet potatoes. I never tried growing them before because I always read that they needed more heat than we get here, but what with the temperatures the way they are right now, I figured I'd give one a try. I planted it in the front yard (so a certain beagle can't dig it up). If I'm lucky, it will be nice and toasty warm there.