15 inches of rain in 24 hours are enough to bring down the best plants, especially when their limbs are heavy with wet fruit. But I finally held my breath and headed out to survey the damage.
Our homeowners covenants don't let visible gardens detract from the property. So, we have a postage stamp size garden hidden behind a home grown fence of flowing ornamental grasses and pine trees.
Hidden away, we have a vegetable patch, yet to be planted. A frugal tip - don't overcommit yourself to a giant gardening project and lose your investment in plants if you can't establish and maintain them.
We have a line of blueberry plants, a range of varieties to pollinate and keep blueberries ripening throughout the summer. Most seem to have hung on through the storms, and only a few succumbed to a hungry deer tearing away the protective netting:
We also have six dwarf fruit trees. Growing up in California farm country, the concept of dwarf trees affronts me. How can you possible get decent fruit from dwarf trees? Do they produce much? Is the fruit dwarf?
I'm happy to report they are also doing well...and the quality, well, the pile of pits on the ground from said deer indicates they are doing well. Not ripe yet, but growing quickly.
Savings of the day...well, a cup of blueberries runs around $4? We and our friends, family, neighbors, dental hygenist...picked around twenty quarts last year. The cost...well, the fertilizer won't put a dent in the Home Depot g/c I just received. Blueberries are remarkably hardy, and one of the easiest to grow organically.
Finding storage space in the freezer...well, you can do worse things to your friends than donating buckets of fresh blueberries to their homes!
Blueberries survived the rain!
June 30th, 2006 at 09:39 pm
3 Responses to “Blueberries survived the rain!”
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