Boysenberry, Year # 2

My boysenberry bush came back this year! Last year, it fruited like crazy, but sadly, all the birds got to them before I had even a chance to harvest any. I did get to eat one, but it was rather sour. :-/

Maybe this year, if I leave it on the bush long enough and if I can keep the birds away, I'll have a wonderful harvest and abundance to munch on. Hopefully, they will be sweeter too!

I've put up bird netting around the bush. Can you see it in the picture below?


Can you see how beautiful and abundant that bush is? I think it's the best purchase I've ever made! They grow so well and so full. Sadly, it's only for the month of May that it'll be so green and fruiting. But I'm glad it comes back again next year.

The flowers of the boysenberry are a lovely white color with the fruit in the middle. The plant itself is full of little thorns, so when it's time to pick the fruit, I'll have to be extra careful.


The plant is getting very tall. But we've got that wire fencing behind it, so that it can climb up rather than out.

Some up-close photos of the fruit. These were taken right after a good rain.

Grapes, Boysenberries, and Lettuce

Cam and I now have three grape plants. We have two concord grapes and one Thompson seedless. The concords are still flourishing, and the grape bunches continue to get larger each day.

Unfortunately, it seems that we have grape bunches coming from the same concord grape plant. I don't know why the second concord grape isn't producing fruit, but it hasn't yet. Its leaves are green and the foliage looks healthy, but no grape bunches. The strange thing is that the concords are planted right next to each other, so their leaves overlap, and it's hard to tell them apart.

Photo Below: Growing concord grape bunches



We've had the concord grape plants since April. And we had thought that having two grape plants was enough... until we went to the nursery last Sunday and saw the Thompson seedless. It didn't have any grape bunches on it, but its leaves looked healthy, so we wanted to give it a shot.

I love grapes, and I'd love to have a vineyard one day. That would be fun to grow grapes all day. I've never tasted the Thompson variety of grapes, so I'm hoping that this plant actually fruits by the end of the summer. That would be a very nice reward!

Photo Above: The Thompson Seedless grape plant after it was transplanted.

I still have no idea how to prune my boysenberries, but the fruit is starting to ripen and it's all happening pretty fast. It seems that I have a new, ripe boysenberry each day. Sadly, the birds have been eating the best and most delicious berries off the plant, but I've been able to pop a few in my mouth. It's quite a treat!

Photo Below: The boysenberry plant, taken late last week. See how the berries are starting to eat their color?

And with my impatience, I ended up picking a boysenberry that wasn't ripe yet. I just couldn't contain my excitement over the fruit. It was my first ruby red fruit, and so I washed it and ate it... and it was SOUR!

Photo Below: The not-so-ripe boysenberry in the palm of my hand


After I devoured the sour boysenberry above, I decided that it was best to wait and let the fruit ripen more. I read that boysenberries are supposed to get a rich, dark red color before you pick them. And luckily for me, I didn't have to wait too long before some of the other berries started to turn into that deep red color.

Below: Recent photo of the boysenberry bush


I still need to figure out how to take care of the plant, so that it will continue to fruit throughout the season. If anyone knows, I'd love the answer. So far, I haven't done much to the bush. I planted it in the ground near a trellis, and so far it's continued to produce healthy fruit. Maybe I don't need to prune it like I do the tomatoes.


Finally, a word on lettuce. After I harvested the lettuce head last week, I decided to wait to see if any of the other heads actually formed into a head. So far, no such luck. The lettuce continues to look unruly. But they still look healthy. I'm debating whether I should harvest more lettuce heads or wait until they become an actual head.

Below Photo: The growing lettuce in the backyard square foot garden. The lettuce is growing nice and big.

During the first month of our garden, we noticed that the lettuce in the front vegetable bed was doing much better than the lettuce in the back. It took a while for the lettuce in the back to catch up, but it's finally growing very strong and large. I don't know how I'm going to be able to eat all the produce. I guess I'll have to give it some of the lettuce away.

Photo Below: The lettuce in the front vegetable bed.


Photos Below: Close-ups on the lettuce in the back





Does anyone know if lettuce grows back after you harvest it? Do you have to plant new lettuce seedlings (or seeds) each year?

One very nice thing about this lettuce that we're growing: it's SO delicious and jam-packed with flavor. The lettuce that you buy at the grocery store tastes like water compared to what we've grown. I was shocked at the difference in flavor when I first ate it. It's crazy how much better home-grown vegetables are. I guess the grocers just add a lot of preservatives that make their produce taste water-down.

Weed Eater Accident, Lettuce, and Fruitful Surprises

Today was certainly an exciting day in my garden. Even the cloudy day didn't dampen my mood. It was mostly good news... Unfortunately, my large and beautiful stevia plant is no longer. This is all that's left in the pot.


Now let me tell you the reason. Cam was weed eating the grass around the front vegetable bed, and the extension cord on the electric weed eater knocked the pot over and snapped the plant in two. We think the small plant that's left is another stevia plant, so we're going to continue to care for it and see what happens.


In the mean time, Cam and I are going to try to dry these leaves and turn them into a powder for sweetening. We still need to learn how to do this, but it'll be a fun experiment.

As for the plant, Cam picked off most of the stevia leaves to dry. He dunked the stem in water to see if it will sprout new roots. We tried this on a tomato stem, and it worked. And hopefully the stevia plant will sprout as well.

Onto happier news. I decided to "harvest" our largest lettuce head. It hadn't turned into a head yet, but it was large enough and I was getting impatient. (Cam says "you and patience are not friends." LoL. I am impatient). Well, we also have two other lettuce heads that are growing at a brisk pace, and we can't eat all of them at once.

Here are some pictures of the "harvest."

Picture 1: Getting ready to cut.
Picture 2: Separation
Picture 3: The happy gardener





And to think, this lettuce was a small seedling only a month ago. Here is its "baby" picture. Time sure flies. First, you're raising a cute, little baby, and the next thing you know, they've graduated and end up in your tummy.


Now onto more talk of my impatience. I found one red and one pink strawberry today from the strawberry plant that I put in the SFG box # 2.


It was only yesterday that it was barely showing any color. And today, it was red and delicious. Cam told me to wait to see if the strawberry would get bigger in size, but I couldn't wait. I compromised and told him that I'd wait for the other strawberry to get bigger.

Note: the strawberry looks much bigger than it actually is. My hand is tiny! Don't believe me? Here's a picture of my small hand in Cam's palm.


Below: picture of the strawberry pickin'



In other fruit news, my concord grape vine is finally producing hope of grapes. There are only two grape bunches, but I think the grapes are starting to come in. I can't wait until they get bigger and I can chomp down!




And in other berry news: my boysenberry bush is producing colorful fruit. We've had the bush for 3 weeks, and it's only fruited green berries so far. But today, I noticed some of the berries are ripening! I'm so excited. I can't wait to eat them. I think they end up being a very dark maroon when they are ripe. I want to eat them before the birds take a nibble!



By the way, does anyone know how to prune boysenberries? I've just let it grow out so far, and it seems to be doing well, but maybe I need to prune it.