Spent a satisfying day playing in the dirt. Planted 2 varieties of #potatoes (3 more to go tomorrow) and worked with my spouse to clear more of the bramble from the terraced garden area. Then we planted 3 #blueberry bushes.
Spawn the eldest called & we had a lovely conversation. Spawn the youngest messaged me love & hugs.
Spouse & I will cook dinner together & spend a quiet evening w/the dogs in a cuddle pile on the sofa.
It’s 96 degrees in MN, and it’s September, so it’s after #blueberry season. But I’ll hop back into #Founders KBS barrel aged Blueberry imperial #stout
I read the label this time which notes coffee, chocolate, AND chocolate syrup. That may account for the body. Tasty bourbon and blueberry sweet with a tart finish. #ItsAlwaysStoutSeason@beersofmastodon
@gardening
I’m not very pleased with these #blueberry bushes. Ok, fine, their soil is not great - lots of locked up nitrogen, mushrooms all spring - but it’s decomposing nicely and I expect them to take off next year. I am putting you on notice, blueberries.
I gave them the extra Alpine #strawberries from a strawberry-planter I made. I have a patch of alpine strawberries that I planted last year in a really dumb spot - they’re very productive and very tasty, but I just can’t crawl around to harvest them. I should be able to manage it in a raised bed, even a short one!
And I planted cucumbers in the same bed as the third blueberry bush. As you can see, it hasn’t gone as I intended (majestic little bush surrounded by short, well behaved vines that cascade out of the bed into the surrounding pathways, so idyllic!). Turns out chickens love cucumbers, and cucumbers that aren’t allowed to escape their bed just seethe into a fury that drowns all non cucurbits. I’m sorry, blueberry. Hang in there. I’ve learned my lesson.
Another painful lesson I’ve learned: the new flower shoots on strawberries look exactly like runner shoots. Don’t take up the habit of clipping all the shoots every morning or you won’t get more berries on your everbearers. D’oh.
It’s #blueberry season, my favourite time of the year. My crop of just a half dozen shrubs produces about a handful of yummy berries every few days. #food#gardening
No, the blueberries did not tunnel out. Instead, the dang Juncos tunneled in under the wire!
Juncos are ground birds and the scratch with their feet foraging for food. A couple of days ago I let a Junco out of the jail and carefully inspected for holes in the net and tunnels. This morning there was a Junco (same one?) in the jail and, yup, a new bird tunnel.
We're not even at peak berry and still the garden's producing a huge bowl every few days - mostly #raspberries with the odd show-off #blueberry and #strawberry. You can imagine how this smells.
Ingredients:
3 cups fresh or frozen #berries
1/2 cup water, divided
Juice of half a small lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
3 tablespoons plant-based butter (any brand you like)
yellow or white cake mix, 1 and 1/4 cups, about half a box (any brand as long as it's vegan, I used Betty Crocker)
This recipe is easy to double for a bigger pan! Use twice as much berries and a whole cake mix and whole lemon.
Instructions:
Mix the berries with the lemon juice and water in your baking dish (skip the lemon juice if berries are very tart)
Add 1/4 cup of cake mix to the berries, mix to combine
Dot the berries with butter (about 1 tablespoon)
In separate bowl, mix 1 cup cake mix with 1/4 cup water to make thick batter
5.Spoon the cake batter over the berries in the baking dish, dot with more butter (about 2 tablespoons)
Put the cover on it and place in the solar oven, bake until done (cake is cooked and berry juice is bubbling around the edge, thickened and translucent)