A humid, wet spring ends your hope for Red Currants, but a few warm, clear days gives you baskets of Black Currants. A monsoonal down pour destroys the Native Plum blossoms, but the tiny, hidden green flowers of the Valiant Grape give you pounds of grapes in August. Honoring diversity of plants and temporal and spatial design – just as things are in nature – helps plants to survive and thrive, and feeds your community.
The patch was buried deep in icey snow drifts until late in spring. Any spring blooms were stymied by the weather – humid, wet. Pollen and pollinators were oppressed. But here is the second crop from the new grown canes this year. From this small patch I got over a pound of berries this morning and there are so many still ripening!
And let’s talk about pollinators: the plants are still blooming, so the pollinators – looking for food to get ready to hibernate or migrate and to pack into nests for spring hatch. And I added the Tara Farm and Nursery Groundcover Mix. The alfalfa is blooming now, helping to attract pollinators to keep making berries.
That mix has three nitrogen fixer legumes. The Sainfoin produces flowers first in the spring. The Red Clover comes next, and in late August the Hytons Blend Alfalfa. Very early on when these plants first come up, I let the geese in to nibble them down. Later, I use a string trimmer. I stop this pruning about mid-June. In doing so, the plant’s roots release their sequestered nitrogen to improve soil (mine is all clay!) and feed the raspberry plants. The legumes come right back with beautiful pink, purple and red blooms. These blossoms are visited by hundreds of pollinators and produce more seed. Collect the seed just as the shells begin to turn brown. At any agricultural seed retailer these are rather expensive seeds. Now you can grow your own and support your food forest.
With this kind of production from my little raspberry patch, I see small jars of jam all through the winter.
***** Fall Planting?? Absolutely!! ** For folks in the Casper Wyoming Area, I have several plants left in the nursery. ****Raspberry Shrub 2 gallon container Fall Price: $15.00 **** And ground cover seed: Tara Farm and Nursery Groundcover Mix 10 oz $4.50
For more information please Comment here or email me at tarafarmandnursery@gmail.com
The Refuge Permaculture Center 