The escapees headed straight for the raspberry patch.
3I spent the day prepping the raspberry bed and building this bamboo trellis for the pole beans. For once, my trellis will go in before the plants! (Thanks to a neighbor with an overactive patch of bamboo, we have a ready supply of poles.)
I also pulled up the brick path and spread the soil more evenly, which lead to pulling horrid quantities of morning glory (aka bindweed aka Convolvulus arvensis — a scourge of every Northwest garden and natural area). I planted poppy seeds at one end of the bed, with the intention of transplanting them once they are looking sturdy.
Our first real red raspberry harvest, with a handful of thimbleberries.
Great weather for a big fourth of July garden clean up. While Nathan picked cherries, I trimmed the Interlaken grapes out front so that they wouldn’t take over the sidewalk, and shortened the native roses (I’m looking forward to finding uses for the rose hips). We also cleared the overgrown California poppies off the sidewalk. In the back, I cleaned up the bed with the raspberries, staked the sunflowers, and planted some of the basil starts my dad brought to us.
The Fourth marks a lot of things in the Great Pacific Northwest: fireworks delighting children and terrorizing dogs, the start of reliably summery weather, and BERRIES!
Here’s our first harvest of red raspberries and tayberries (the long ones), topped off with our prolific blackcap raspberries. There’s one thimbleberry in there too. (The blackcaps are super happy growing in the sunny spot next to the sidewalk, while the shorties walking by are happy to gorge themselves on them.)
The lily and raspberries in the summer sun. Happy Solstice!
(The lily is finally going to bloom after three years of being buried in the mess of the flower bed.)
