This past week has been full of minor garden related activities and some lessons learned.
First, all of the berries have been planted into their containers. We currently have three different blueberry varieties, two raspberries, and one strawberry container.
Blueberries- For nearly all blueberries, it is critical to have multiple varieties for efficient pollination. I thought I had this addressed last year when I planted my first two blueberries. With the rabbit damage inflicted to last year’s growth, I am hopeful that I will get some flowering this year. This will be critical for all. If it doesn’t look good, I’ll probably add a fourth variety.
The three blueberry varieties we are growing are Blue Ray, Chippewa and Jersey (I think- I can’t find the tag). The Blue Ray and Jersey were purchased last summer as two year-old container starts. The Chippewa was purchased this spring.
Raspberries- Last year’s rescued start was overwintered in the kitchen window. It looks like it made it! This past week I transplanted it into a larger container with some good quality container mix. With a few days outdoors it’s already added a couple of new leaves. I don’t recall the type, but I suspect it’s Burgess’ Latham variety. The new addition this year is the Rubus ‘Everbearing’. This was already fully leafed out when I purchased it.
Strawberries- The planter full of Quinalt strawberries is doing great! The existing starter leaves are now healthy looking with strong stems. Several of the bulbs have started sending out new leaves. The survival rate was 8/10.
I bring all of these containers inside every night just to be safe.
Seed starter trays- update and lessons learned- last weekend I put the tray of tomatos and peppers out to get some sun. It was a nice sunny day, in the low 60’s F, but the wind chill must have been a bit cool for some of the tomatoes. Within a couple of days, some of the Roma tomatoes started wilting. I figure I shocked them by placing them outside too early. Fortunately only one variety that had the issue.
I’ll be adding a temorary plastic greenhouse to help transition the starts.
Old fridge germinator update- Since the last update I’ve experienced a little milder and mushroom growth on some of the TP starters. I’ve remedied this situation by leaving the door open a few inches, to allow some air circulation, and monitoring the moisture level (and watering accordingly). This resolved the issues very quickly.
Compost bin- The compost bin is working, but is not rising in temperature yet. I’ve been adding coffee grounds and veggie scraps almost daily. I looked under it again and it has a ton of worms working away- climbing up through the large drain holes in the bottom. I made the mistake of over-watering it one evening, resulting in a very bad odor. To quickly remedy this I added some shredded newspaper and mixed the bin. By morning the odor was gone.
So far, so good… Lots to learn (and remember for next year).
