Latham Raspberries

Earlier this spring I purchased a Latham raspberry plant (and a Heritage raspberry plant, but as the title of this blog indicates, I intend to blog about the Latham raspberry plant). I meant to be patient and planned that the one plant will, eventually over time, branch out and create more plants. Of course, I changed my mind and wanted more plants so that I might have raspberries to enjoy next spring.

So what did I do? Well, I looked around for this particular raspberry plant. Many of the online nurseries were offering it for a cheap price, but considering my last experience, I opted to look elsewhere. While conducting a search online, something from Craigslist came up. Apparently a lot of local homeowners are offering their raspberry plants for sale but the origins of these plants were either unknown or not Latham. However, there was one ad from a seller indicating that the seller had LOTS of Latham raspberry plants for sell, and of course for a very good price.

I contacted the seller and he dropped off four plants at my home this evening, to which I immediately planted. Four plants under twenty dollars, with free shipping, how much better can this get?

So now I wait (what's new, right?). The Latham raspberry plant produces red raspberries (as opposed to yellow or black raspberries) and is summer bearing (raspberry plants are either summer bearing or ever bearing), meaning that it produces fruit on second year old canes. For example, the canes that are produced this summer on my raspberry plants will fruit next year. Once the canes have fruited, then it needs to be cut down. Of course, Latham is hardy to my zone, and I believe it may have been bred in Minnesota. I've read that the fruit is a bit more crumbly, but still yummy. I guess in time I will find out.

Droplets

Rasied Beds

If you're a regular reader, you know that I've waxed on and on about growing and replacing raspberry bushes in my garden. I believe that I last wrote about my last endeavor to grow raspberries on September 15, 2008, where I planted a red rasberry plant and a yellow raspberry plant. Well, the plants didn't do too well and didn't survive the winter. In place of the raspberry plants I'm now growing a thornless Araphao blackberry. So far it appears to be doing well and I hope it will be established enough to survive this coming winter.

As for the raspberries, I still refuse to give up on the idea of growing my own raspberries. So, this time I've decided to just create raised beds and park them on the southern side of my yard. This way, my current vegetable garden and flower beds stay intact (although, I think that I may have to rearrange the layout of my yard at some point in the future), I can manage the soil in the beds, the raspberry plants will get lots of sunlight, and hopefully the raspberry plants won't sucker outside of the beds.

The beds are simply designed and made out of untreated boards I had laying around in my garage. I made my mate build the beds, and both beds were built within three hours. I dug both holes for the beds, killed off the stumps that were growing into the fence, filled the beds with amended soil (e.g. composted manure, orgainc soil, peat moss, top soil), and planted the raspberry plants. It was a lot of work, but the finished product left me feeling quite accomplished.

Strawberry Update

I just wanted to share an update on the status of my strawberry plants. In the fall of 2007, I planted several strawberry plants and blogged about it. Last summer was the first summer for the plants, also known as the "mother" plants. These mother plants sent out lots of runners which eventually became the "daughter" plants. Last summer I only got three strawberries. In retrospect it's a good thing I didn't get any more because I would have had a hard time picking off all of the strawberry flowers.

Apparently, by not allowing the mother plant to produce blossoms (thereby fruiting) allows it to put all of its energy into producing vigorous daughters. The daughters will in turn provide great yields the follwowing season. Well, this spring, the daughter plants are are not disappointing me and are producing a whole lot of strawberries. I'm can't wait to harvest my first crop of strawberries, but I wish that my family could be here to share these scrumptious strawberreis with me.

Hot, HOt, HOT

The last few days have been sweltering. How do we go from a high of 60 degrees F to a high of 97 degrees F in just a matter of days? Is there no such thing as a spring anymore? I heard that the temperatures here were actually a lot higher than various parts of Texas and Florida (areas that often receive a lot of hot weather). It's been predicted that it's going to get a lot cooler, but with the end of May approaching, does it really matter?

Poppy Unfurling

Rhubarb: How I Longed for Thee

I have wanted to grow rhubarb for a very long time. If you haven't realized it by now, I truly love easy to grow prennials that can double as a food; hence, my love for rhubarb. However, my attempt to obtain a rhubarb plant has not been easy.

You see, several springs ago a friend was complaining that the rhubarb in her yard were growing out of control and she needed to dig them out. So I asked her if I could have some, even offering to dig them out myself. Of course she said it was fine, but time passed and it just never happened. When I asked her again the following spring (or two springs later, I think) she said the winter killed off most of the rhubarb in her garden and she only had one crown left. So, I started looking elsewhere, specifically I turned to the internet for free rhubarb plants on Twin Cities Free Market (a place online for residents of the Twin Cities "who want to give or get free reusable goods for the home, garage and garden"). I found several listings for free rhubarb, but wasn't able to get out to the location in time (early spring is the best time to transplant rhubarb and often is the only time available for pickup), or the location was just a bit too far for me. Then last year I finally went to a big box store and purchased a bag of rhubarb crowns. Unfortunately I had to return the plants that same day because the crowns were mushy and covered with tiny white worms (yeah, gross).

With just a little lingering of hope left in my heart, I pretty much gave up on growing my own rhubarb plant. Then yesterday the topic of rhubarb came up between a co-worker and I. She was surprised to hear that I actually want to grow rhubarb because she hates rhubarb and can't imagine anyone wanting to grow it (apparently her mother turned her off from rhubarb for life because as a child she ate a rhubarb pie that her mother forgot to add sugar to). She had so many rhubarb growing in her yard (and considering that she hates rhubarb) that she was more than happy to give away what she had in her yard.

So . . . [drum roll] . . . she brought two rhubarb crowns to work today and gave them to me. Upon coming home, despite the gray sky and drizzling rain, I planted my rhubarb crowns. [The rhubarb plant pictured above is still very small, although the camera makes it look quite big. The biggest leaf is only as big as my hand.] Yea, rhubarb! Now just two more years before I can actually harvest my first rhubarb stalks.

Dear Irises

Cherry Blossoms

As my previous blog posting indicates, so far my State is in need of rain. The other odd bit about this year is that our spring is starting a bit later than I remember (I think it’s a mental thing because every year I always think the spring starts later than the last). My blog posting from last year, however, indicates that my cherry blossoms may have started blossoming around May 15th, which is about two weeks later than this year. I mention this because my cherry blossoms have just started blooming over the weekend. I find it exciting to see the white petals floating in the air and a confirmation that spring is really, truly, finally here in the Midwest.

I know I wrote about my cherry blossoms last year and posted a picture, but I'm very enamored of these blossoms. So please bear with me with another post and two more pictures. Once more, I'm crossing my fingers for more than one cherry this year. It might still be a bit too early due to the age of my tree, but I don't think that it hurts to hope.