a Little something extra

Here i am again i finally have gotten around to taking some pictures of a LITTLE side project i embarked upon this spring. As those of you that have been following my blog know that i planted and bought enough strawberries and raspberries this spring to start a little berry patch for selling at the farmers market. After i planted that initial patch back in April i had an opportunity arise after a friend told me about an orchard being developed closer to the city and that plants there were free for the taking as they were just being bulldozed. So to make a long story short after a few weeks of digging and ripping a few thousand extra raspberry canes out i managed to plant about an extra 14 rows of berries that i hadn't planned on. While they did suffer during the very dry spring in Ontario they have survived and are now thriving while these pictures don't show the whole patch it does cover a large area and hopefully within one or two years these thin rows will look a lot fuller. I also at the same time managed to dig out 18 dwarf apple trees from the same orchard which will hopefully allow me in a year or two to be able to start selling some of my own apples. While it took a lot of energy and time to do this i think that it will be great boost to the amount of raspberries i will have for sale next season and even by this fall i should be getting a respectable amount off them. While i know i didnt pay for these plants i like to think of it as a plant rescue as the effort and time i put into them more than makes up for not paying for them.

Now it tastes like summer

Well it is amazing what a difference six weeks makes for a newly planted berry patch. It seems just like yesterday i was planting my strawberries and now i am already enjoying the first trickle of sweet berries. So far they taste great and taste sweeter ever day as the sun ripens them to a nice shade of red. Right now i am getting just about a quart a day while that is small i should be getting a much higher output within weeks as i planted day neutral plants which grow and flower all summer an fall. By mid summer i hope to be getting anywhere from 15 to 30 quarts if the weather is good and the plants keep growing at the same pace. I will post further on the strawberries as they continue to come fully into season. The non strawberry pictures in this post have more to do with my last one but i digress. The first pic is of some beans which are doing quite well so far. The second is of pak choi and the last is a Chinese variety of radish called daikon it is white and more similar to a carrot than radish. I will post further on the garden and its progress next time and as my camera has come back to life don't ask how it just did i will have plenty of photo evidence. I hope you all enjoy the longest days of the year and have a great solstice next week i will try to have sunrise pictures of it for those who are less inclined to celebrate it and be awake for the whole day.

Just a little update but not to little

Well its has been a long time since my last post but i am back now into blogging mode again. I somehow managed to survive the more than six week marathon of planting that i undertook this spring lets just say it was more rewarding and frustrating at the same time than i thought it could ever be. I have managed so far to dodge a bullet so far weather wise while we did have a dry early spring in southern ontario it has been much wetter in the last few weeks and this has recharged the soil with water. I was cutting it close but i managed to keep all the tree and berry seedlings wet enough during the dry spell and the vast majority have survived and seem to be thriving quite well. I should be able to taste my first strawberry tonight as the first ripe berries are beggining to appear. I wont be able to post any pictures for the next little while as my camera has finally given out on me after almost five years but it didnt owe me anything it was a good camera for someone as clumsy as me. Well i hope to post again soon and with pictures as i should be able to start taking some good pictures of the gardens process over the next few weeks once i get a replacement enjoy the last weeks of spring.

Trees on the brain

So here is my other major project of the spring 2000 evergreen seedlings. I decided that it would be a good idea to start planting evergreens with an eye towards a long term goal of selling them as nursury stock and as christmas trees. This is more of a long term plan right now but i hope that i can continue to add to them over the next few years and try for about 10000 trees it sounds like a lot but it really doesnt take up much land and over the years i will thin the rows and sell trees for planting. I bought 1000 blue spruce which are a high end tree and is usually a highly sought after tree for both planting and christmas trees. The other 1000 is white spruce these are cheaper but still provide a high quality tree for every need. All i can say is that planting 2000 trees was not as hard as it sounds but it definitly wears you right out even when you have help. The pictures show some of the aspects of planting. The tree shown is the size of the majority of them but there are some that are quite large that i could start selling in a year or two. The finished result of my planting is in the upper left corner i know my lines are a little of but hopefully the trees will fill in the gaps in the next few years. On a final note the trees are adjusting to their new soil well and are growing well the last few weeks have seen good rain hopefully it will continue when the weather warms up or i will soon be blogging on the joys of watering 2000 trees. So i hope you all think rain and dont forget to go for a spider when you see one.

the berry patch

So the last few weeks have been incredibly hectic and busy which is why i havent posted in ages. I recieved my berry order two weeks ago and have been planting berries and trees since then. I planted 1000 day neutral strawberry plants and 500 raspberry canes of a few different varieties. These pictures show the slow progression from freshly tilled soil to the end result of 10 fully planted beds. The first top pictures shows a close up of the soil here and how the berry patch looked before i mulched and planted it. The next ones show some of the raspberry canes soaking before planting which helps to reduce the show shock of transplantation and my self tilling the last row. The last three pictures show the boxes the berries were deleivered in and then myself planting raspberry canes the last shows the finished rows of strawberries. The strawberries seem to be doing great and are showing a lot of growth so far as they begin to settle into the soil. The raspberries will take a few more weeks to begin to show new growth as they grow much slower than strawberries as each grows over the spring and summer i will post further on there progress. My next post will show the other main project project of the last few weeks and detail a surprise opportunity that i recently had.