Garden Flowers, New Elderberry, and New Blueberries

More flowers in the garden are blooming. Above is a Cosmos. This is the first year I’ve grown them. I started them from seed and had a hard time getting them to germinate and grow. I was excited to see this one blooming today!

My orange Lilies are in full bloom now. There is a bed about twenty feet long and they start blooming from one end until the other. I really like the orange-red color they have. The tallest ones are over five feet tall.

A couple small patches of clover have been blooming for a while. I have been mowing around them, so the bees can enjoy them while they last. These are only a few inches tall.  also bought some clover seeds for much taller purple clover. I haven’t planted them yet.

This is an Elderberry I recently planted. It started blooming just after I bought it. It is a “ranch” variety. It has two small suckers starting already. When they get bigger, I may move them to another part of the yard.

Last but not least, this is a pink lemonade blueberry. It doesn’t have any flowers yet. I bought it to perhaps, finally get some blueberries. The other three different varieties I planted a few seasons ago are barely growing. I am starting to think I need to move them to another part of the yard. I tried giving them an organic soil acidifier last spring, but it hasn’t seemed to help. Perhaps a soil test is in order before I make any more changes.

Cherry Harvest!

I was really excited to see the Northstar Cherry tree I planted last fall blooming this spring! Flowers are future fruit. The tree did not disappoint. We have been pulling off tart cherries all week. This was the harvest last night.

I am still shocked that it has started to produce so fast. I was expecting to wait a year or three to get anything. This is a very happy and tasty surprise!

 

Related Posts:

• Planting Fruit Trees (Planting September 2014)
• Spring Flowers–The Edibles are Blooming! (Blooming April 2015)

Garden Update–June 5, 2015

The garden has been growing and growing with a lot of success.

The above was taken today, and the below was taken just two weeks ago. Amazing the growth in such a short amount of time. You can see the sunchokes in the background really taking off. The cabbage and collards have been proving nice salads and now the cabbage is producing small heads.

A small harvest of honeyberries today. I have been enjoying small harvests most days for over a week now. Yum! I really appreciate getting to finally eat some since I planted them three seasons ago. I like them and look forward to more! They taste like a cross between a blueberry and a raspberry.

My chives are blooming nicely. I am excited for this plant to spread a bit to add some more color and diversity to the yard.

All the peonies are blooming now. Red, white, and pink. They look and smell nice. The ants are really enjoying crawling all over them.

One set of the irises in the backyard is done and now this set is nearly done as well. They are really large flowers. Great to look at and completely surrounded by garlic chives.

The lilies in the front are starting to bloom as well. The petals will add some nice color to our salads.

Finally, the front yard has been hit pretty hard by a new rabbit population. I’ve had strawberries in the front for a few years now, but this is the first year they have been chewed down. I think it will severely hamper the harvest. I hope they can bounce back soon. The poor sunflowers are another story. They are just green sticks right now. The rabbits chewed off all the leaves. I started them nearly two months ago, and was really looking forward to the silly 12 foot tall plants. I have started some more seeds, but I am not sure they will have enough time to mature now.

To address the furry pest problem, I have ordered some narcissus bulbs. The flowers will look great and they should keep the deer, rabbits, and squirrels away. I also planted some perennial onions in with some of the beds. I will move some garlic chives into the area as well. All three should do a nice job keeping the critters back and they are all perennial, so low maintenance. My backyard has a sturdy fence, so I haven’t had a lot of pest issues in the past.