So much to do!
Ripe haskap fruit
Playing Catch
Unfortunately, I’m not talking about playing baseball. I’m talking about playing catch UP. This year I am feeling further behind than most years. We took a few long weekends to visit our daughter in Omaha and to help the other daughter move from Nashua MT back to our area. In the middle of the traveling, we tried to do the rototilling, planting and weeding.
Visiting our daughters was not what put us so far behind. It was all the rain. We have received a lot of rain in the month of May, almost 5 inches. Plus, we got an additional 1 inch this past week. Don’t get me wrong, I like rain but it would have been better if it was spread out over 2 months not just one. Every time it got almost dry enough to do stuff, it would rain again.
On one of those days when it was almost dry enough, I got the rototiller out and tilled rows in the garden. Using the rototiller in wet soil isn’t the greatest, it leaves the soil clumpy. I used to till the whole garden but have changed the last few years and only till where we plant. I leave the space between where we plant untouched. I have the garden water lines laid out in rows. I’ll change out what I plant in each row from year to year. It’s not no-till but it’s what I call low-till. I’m working towards no-till. I bought a broadfork this spring with hopes of using it right away. I tried it but it was just too wet to work well. I’ll experiment with it this summer when things are dryer.
We got most of the garden planted last week. Tomato and pepper starts went in and they are looking good. We planted beans, purple, yellow, green and rattlesnake. We did our normal, way too many mounds of zucchini. We are trying some cucumbers on trellis this year. We have good luck growing an English style of cucumber but on the ground, they tend to curl. We are hoping that hanging on the trellis will be better for long straight cucumbers. We put in smaller winter squash. We heard from folks buying at the Gardner’s Market that large spaghetti, acorn and the like, are just way too much for 1 or 2 people. We are thinking the smaller ones will be more saleable.
As with most everyone, weeds are my nemesis. The rain put me way behind and the weeds are much further along than most years. Some are already flowering and going to seed. This year we will be adding to the weed seed bank, not making withdrawals. My trusty hoe and I are making progress. The garden is weeded. I’m making my way through the gooseberries and by next week should finish the rest of the berry plants.
We are replacing our strawberries. We had them in low boxes. We were able to get more apple boxes from Last Chance Cider in Billings and we decided to put strawberries in them. The tall apple boxes are right next to the low boxes. I could go on about the ‘perfect’ plan we had but everything did not go as planned. Yep, it rained. We did not get the old strawberries out before our guy with the skidsteer showed up to put soil in the new boxes. The old strawberries have started to bloom and we have fruit set. Pulling out the old strawberries at this point just feels wrong. We got the new strawberry plants in the mail yesterday and will get them planting in the new boxes this week. We’ll have to do a little stretching since we can only get to the new boxes from one side due to the old strawberries that were supposed to be gone by now. And we’ll have to do some stretching to reach the far side of the low boxes when the old strawberries are ready to pick. But on the bright side, we will have some strawberries this year!
We got our nursery license through the state and are selling some plants. This year we have apple and cherry trees, haskap, raspberries, elderberries, service berries. The cherry trees are out of Bozeman and are new to the market this year. They are tart cherry but are sweet enough to eat fresh. They should do very well in our climate. We will also have some asparagus crowns for sale. The asparagus is Mary Washington and is an older variety. We have done two “pop up” sales at our store for nursery stock, they have done pretty well. We might plan on other soon. We will be at the Gardener’s Market in South Park in Billings on June 12 selling plants.
We have been harvesting rhubarb for a couple of weeks. The plants really love the rain.
We are done harvesting the asparagus for the year. We ended the harvest a few weeks earlier than most years. Those pesky weeds were crowding it out and made a great place for the asparagus beetles to hid out. Between the weeds and the bugs, the asparagus was really hurting. We knocked down the bugs and got the weeds out. The asparagus is coming back strong but I want it to have the rest of the summer to build up reserves for next year.
On the berry front, things are looking good. We netted the haskaps last week. We will probably start harvesting them in 2 to 3 weeks. The bushes are loaded. Raspberries and strawberries are blooming and the strawberries have fruit set. Almost all of the apples trees have at least some apples set. A few of the trees will need their apples thinned. Crossing our fingers that we may get a few pears this year. Our Golden Spice Pear has fruit set.
Recipe:
This month we are highlighting our wonderful haskaps. This is a quick and easy recipe from The Little Prairie Book of Berries by Sheryl Normandeau.
Haskap Berry Peanut Energy Bites
1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 Cup Quick Oats
1/2 Cup Chopped Peanuts
1/3 Cup Frozen Haskap Berries (not thawed)
Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet
Combine peanut butter and maple syrup in a medium bowl. Add the oats, peanuts, and haskap berries and mix thoroughly.
Using your hands, roll approximately 2 tbsp of the dough into a ball. Place the ball on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat this step with the remaining dough.
Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes. The energy balls are now ready to eat! Store them in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.