Raspberries!

Back in October, I planted some raspberries; not really expecting them to do much. But they have gone very well over this summer (we really have been blessed with next-to-perfect berry growing conditions!), and I have been picking berries!

Raspberries are my absolute favourite berry. They are just the right combination of sweet and tart and they taste good on their own or with almost anything else! For example, today I made delicious white chocolate and raspberry muffins, which were magnificent (and extremely dangerous!!!)

Because I didn't tie the raspberry canes, they droop down over the path, which is a bit naughty, but it does mean that the berries are hidden from birds. Next year though, when the new canes come up, I'll make sure I tie them. They have their own bed (my dad's advice, as raspberries like to send out suckers), and I'm just going to let them take over. :)

Blackberries!!!

As I've mentioned before, I love to grow berries. Canberra has the perfect climate to do it, with its distinct seasonal changes. This year has been almost perfect: a very cold winter (though I don't actually like that part!) and a warm, wet spring/summer.

As I mentioned in the other post, I've already had a good blueberry and boysenberry harvest (with a few stragglers to come), and I'm excited to see some raspberries (my favourite berry!) blossoming on my new plants, but this summer belongs to the blackberry!

If you're close to my age (41), or perhaps older, you might remember being able to pick blackberries from their brambles in parks, alongside roads or down little country lanes. Of course that was before the authorities realised that they were in fact an invasive weed, and started spraying them. Pretty soon the only place you could get berries was in punnets.

Of course they still have the potential to be an invasive weed, but by golly they're delicious! So I was very happy when my parents gave me a cutting of a thornless variety to plant. I learned my lesson with the boysenberry (or should I say I am still learning it!), and only plant my bramble berries in garden beds that they are allowed to take over (they are ruthless - sending up suckers from beneath the ground as well as runners above!). My blackberry shares a garden bed with two pear trees, but so far they are getting along. I've had a good harvest every year, but this year is amazing! I gave it a pretty savage pruning in late winter, and it's gone crazy! This was one part of the plant at Christmas time:

So far this week, I've picked almost 600 grams of ripe blackberries, and I don't seem to have made a dent! Luckily, berries are easy to freeze and can be used in so many different ways. I also have a lot of volunteers to help me get through them! Anyone that turns up at my house in the next couple of weeks may be offered blackberries!

Some of the plant sticks up over the fence, so I thought it would be nice to share my berries with the neighbourhood.

As we live on a laneway, I just put up a little sign, and they help themselves.

Hopefully it brings back some memories for them, of summer days spent with purple fingers and the delicious taste of blackberries on the tongue!

A berry good harvest!

Super busy this weekend, but I did manage to pick some berries. A good punnet and a half of blueberries:

And the same of boysenberries:

I do so love boysenberries, but geez they're painful! If you've never grown them, they grow on branches covered in tiny little thorns that love to attach themselves to you even when you're just passing by.

We put our boysenberries in a few years ago, and then a few years later tried to take them out, but they send out underground sucker, so once they're in, they're almost impossible to remove. So I've given up and just let them grow in the little bed beside my driveway. Because they do taste very good!!!

Little Harvests

We have had a fair amount of rain (more than 50mm) over the last few days, with some big thunderstorms keeping things interesting (I love summer storms!).

I've been too busy to take pictures but the storm clouds have been amazing!

So I haven't been out in the garden much, but this morning was able to go and pull out a few weeds and pick some food!

A punnet's worth of yummy blueberries:

Some potatoes for dinner (slow-cooker vegemite roast lamb with home grown rosemary and garlic!):

 And my first cherries in a couple of years! YUM!

This a dumb thing to say, but the stuff you get to pick and eat is definitely the best part of growing food (oh, and we'll be a bit better off when the zombie apocalypse comes)!

October in the garden - planting!

Of course one of the big jobs in October is planting! Especially when you're growing vegies (and constantly finding fun new food plants to try...)

So in the bits that are already prepared, I've been planting.

I've planted lettuce twice, as the first lot was decimated when the chooks escaped from their yard (along with some of my precious garlic - aaaargggh!).

As well as some tomatoes, basil, eggplant and leeks. I had some little bits and pieces that I'd grown from seed (like some zucchini plants) but the chooks got those too. I'll put them in again this week. One of the pitfalls of having them I guess, but I wouldn't give them up. I love my yummy fresh eggs! I'll introduce you soon.

I've also put in some new raspberry plants from my dad (a very clever gardener along with my mum), planted some corn seeds, transplanted some strawberries and I thought I'd try a honeydew melon in a warm spot that I've got out the back. We'll see how it goes...