Raspberries - Friend or Foe

Will a raspberry take over your garden like the blackberry does? Since moving into my house a couple of years ago I have had an ongoing battle with blackberries, ivy, and morning glory. But what about raspberries?Ivy grows roots along the stem and that will start a new plant. Blackberries will grow roots when it's cane (the long stem of the plant) touches the ground. Raspberries spread by sending out runners like some bamboo and grasses. But raspberries can be easily contained. You can grow them in a raised bed or surround them with a barrier that is about 8 inches deep. You can use edging material to do that. Two useful sites about growing raspberries are
Al's Garden Center - www.als-gardencenter.com/index.php?cID=666
this is a basic page on fundamentals
Fine gardening - www.finegardening.com/plants/articles/reliable-raspberries.aspx
this page is much more in depth covering trellis, bare root plants, soil and bed prep, even what to do with the fruit such as canning and freezing.
The two categories of raspberries are spring crop (which fruits around June) and everbearing which will produce berries in the summer and into fall until the first frost.

Raspberries like well drained rich soil and some sort of support around 6 feet high.

This year I will be planing a few different types;

Meeker - Is a spring crop. It produces large thimble shaped berries with high sugar content

Willamette - Which originated here in Oregon is also a spring crop. The berries are large, dark, and less sweet than the Meeker, but have a rich flavor

Heritage - They are everbearing. These are sweet and mild flavor.


I don't expect to get any fruit on the spring fruiting berries as they fruit on the 2 year old canes, but i might get a few in the fall off of the everbearing since they can fruit on 1st year canes.

Wish me luck.

What's happening around my garden - AKA first post of 2010

Being an accountant takes up a large portion of my time and energy for the first few months of the year. But after that is over time to garden.

I just put in this wall a couple of weeks ago and smoothed the dirt. These plants will fill in and go over the wall bring mounds of color. We have lithodora, rockfoil, aubrieta, and candytuft. lithodora which is a dark blue/purple, and apparently the hummingbirds like it. I saw one going to town on the little flowers today.

This is Aubrieta
Here is 'purple robe' saxifraga caespitosa (rockfoil)

Here we are at the front of the bed before you get to the wall. We have a coral bark maple and a nice old rhododendron

Still in the front yard you can see that the hosta's are coming up and the ferns are getting bigger. Soon my deciduous native rhododendron will be blooming. That is the shrub to the right of the picture.

Last fall we planted the Brunnera ' looking glass'. it is a perennial forget me not. Very glad to see it came up and is looking so healthy.

A bloom on my magnolia tree.
Here is another plant I put in last fall. This is Daphane 'carol mackie'

The asparagus is now in its second year. I could have ate the ones that were bigger than a pencil. But there were about 4-5 that would have been OK to eat and that isn't enough for a meal, so i am just letting them go. I did put in a second asparagus bed. In this picture you can see the two types i have. Jersery Knight (green) and the Sweet Purple.
Here is a close up of one of the green ones. This one would be too old to eat - the top is no longer tight. I am sure by this point it would be very woody.
One of my columbines is blooming.
This is Spring Bouquet Viburnum. Looking very nice this year.
Some of my tulips - before the big rains of the last day or two knocked all the petals off.
The variety is a Darwin type. they are big and robust each year.
Near the pond some tulips, a winter daphne, a hosta on the left, and a huchera (coral bells) in the front.

The bees have been very active in and around the flowers on my blueberries. I think the flowers are just so cute. The humming birds like them too.
The neighbors lilac sneaks over my fence. I just love the smell.
One of my rhododendrons in the "back 40"
This one can use some pruning - i don't like it when they look like an unnatural ball.
Pulmonarias are probably my favorite shade flower. This variety Pulmonaria 'smokey blue' has pink and blue flowers with spotted leaves. Can't beat that for interesting.
Closeup of the flowers
A meyer lemon i have hanging out on the back porch. i will need to put it in a more permanent pot. They are not hardy here, so when it gets cold - into the garage it goes. I think the flower buds are very attractive.

New additions

It is a rainy day, and I just planted a few more things in my new beds in the front yard. These pictures are not from the actual plants purchased, but pictures I found on the interwebs. It being the off season my plants would not look so hot. But come spring and summer....

Here we have a less common Daphne. This is Daphne 'Carol Mackie'
Here is an example of it's full size. Mine is still a baby

As you can see here the leaves are more narrow than the odora you can see a couple of plants down on today's blog. The Carol Mackie will get 3 - 5 feet tall and about the same wide.

Beautiful, small shrub displays wonderful flowers in mid-spring and sporadically through summer. Fragrant clusters of small, tubular white flowers that emerge in mid spring and continue sporadically through summer. Attractive, narrow gray-green leaves to 2 inches long carry a striking golden margin. Useful in shrub borders along wood's edge or as a foundation planting. -----------------------------------------------------------------

I wanted to get a native Rhodie because they are decidous, fragrant, beautiful, and less common than the ones you usually find at nurseries.

Meet Rhododendron occidentale, AKA Western Azalea.

This deciduous Rhododendron is native to Ogegon.

When full grown it can be 4 - 6 feet tall and the same wide.

The color can varry a lot with the plant, white, pink, yellow.

I do not know what the flowers will look on my plant until it flowers in May or June.

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Here is the more familiar Daphne. This is Daphne odora 'Marginata'
AKA Variegated Winter Daphne

It will grow to be 2-3 feet tall and wide. Fragrant blooms in late winter.

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This is a Coral bark Maple.
In the fall the leaves are bright read, gold, and apricot. It can eventually grow to be 20 - 25 feet tall with a spread of 15 -20 feet.

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Sambucus nigra AKA Black Lace Elderberry

As you can see if has purple-black foliage that is finely cut. In the spring, around June, large 10" contrasting creamy-pink flowers will arrive. The flowers can have a light lemon sent. It can grow to be 6 feet tall by 6 wide. Mine is about 1 foot tall. I wont want it to get 6 feet wide. I might prune it into a more tree shape.

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Here is the Northern Lights grass.

I put in 2 of these. They have very interesting variegation, with pink, grey and gold tones.

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I put in 6 little Hostas. This variety is called 'Stained Glass'

Got a great deal since they are about to go dormant. Only 1/2 price.

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Since the front yard is mostly shade I got several varieties of fern.

This is Autumn Fern

Will grow to be 15 inches tall by 2 feet wide.

This is Branford Beauty

It has nice silvery-purple fronts. Will be 1 - 2 feet tall.

Here is Lady fern

Nice lacy bright green fronds. It will grow 2-3 feet tall.

The Korean Rock Fern - is an evergreen variety
Can grow up to 16 inches.

And the last fern is the Tassel fern
It too is evergreen. It will grow larger than the Korean Rock fern. It will be 2-3 feet tall.

cover crops

Yesterday I went to Portland Nursery www.portlandnursery.com to attend a seminar on cover crops.

Cover crops are the unsung heroes of the garden – supplying multiple benefits for a minimum of labor! Eric will highlight the different types of cover crops and their benefits. You will also learn how to plant and dig in cover crops.

Cover crops are annual crops that are planted in bare areas of the garden (annual flower bed; newly-tilled bed that won’t be planted until spring; vegetable bed that is empty over the winter), and tilled into the soil in early spring, before planting time, while the cover crop plants are still small, long before they can flower and go to seed.

There is a cover crop for every situation, and can give a vital boost to the overall health and vitality to the garden!

This is buckwheat

I always thought it would look like a regular grain - some sort of grass. It is kind of pretty.

Fava Bean

It is not really a bean, but a member of the pea family. It is an excellent nitrogen fixer with a deep taproot to loosen hard soils.

Crimson Clover

It will form a dense carpet by winter. It also fixes nitrogen. I planted crimson clover last year.

Rye grass

This will just provide organic matter to till into the soil

Austrian peas

This is a legume and will provide lots of organic matter to till into the soil. It likes something to grow/climb up on. In my case it will climb up the rye grass.

Common vetch

Vetch is also a legumes and great for providing nitrogen.

Wheat

This year i purchased a mix instead of using just the clover. The mix contains
45% Rye
25% Austrian Peas
20% Yamhill Wheat
5% Common Vetch
5% Crimson Clover

I think i will add some fava beans to the mix because they look so pretty and some additional clover. As soon as beds become available i will start putting down the seed.