Order in the house

I am talking about 

The Berry House!

After a bit of weeding, 

Even the strawberries got a tidy up.

a load of compost,

pruning of the old berries, 

planting of the new sticks,

a bit of mulching,

and some time to reminisce...

TA DA!

Go, you good sticks!

A berry sticky situation

I bought these labeled twigs at a nursery yesterday.

I am hoping they are more than just sticks.

The first two are boysenberries...I hope.

This one is supposed to be a Jostaberry...

a cross between a gooseberry and a black currant.

I figure I can't really lose.

I am always on the look out for more kindling.

Raspberry Fool

My Dad had a big raspberry patch which was out of bounds.
I used to hide in there and eat raspberries.
I always thought I got away with it.  

When I saw how stained my hands were after picking raspberries today, I had an epiphany.

They must have known all along!  

I should have been caught red handed!

  

I was such a finicky eater (hard to believe) I suppose they were glad I was eating fruit.  

I felt like a raspberry fool!

But The Cook wouldn't make me one because she fancied muffins.  I can't complain, the muffins were berry delicious.

Raspberry Muffins

Ingredients

225 g self-raising flour

75g plain flour

125g caster sugar

I egg

190 - 250 ml buttermilk or milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

190 ml light vegetable oil

200g raspberries

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees c.  Grease a set of muffin tins.

Sift flours, stir in sugar and make a well in the middle.  In a small bowl, beat egg, add milk, vanila and oil then pour into the dry ingredients.  Add strawberries.  Stir gently only until flour is completely moistened...do not beat.  Place mix in muffin tins and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown. Stand muffins in tin for a few minutes. Serve warm or cold with a sprinkling of icing sugar on the top.

They were delicious with yoghurt too.

The cleverness of strawberries

Have you ever noticed how strawberry flowers stretch up way above the foliage?

The pollinators find the flowers and get to work.

Did you notice the raggy butterfly at the top right corner?

As the fruit develops, its weight makes the stalk begin to bend.  The last flowers on the stalk still stick up above the leaves...just. 

Once all the flowers are pollinated and the fruit is forming, the entire stalk disappears below the foliage where the birds can't see it.  

They think the gardener can't see them either.

That is why we must ferret among the leaves to check if their are any ripe ones.   

Something that worked

Way back in April I blogged about planting these strawberries.  As mulch I used an old woolen blanket, cutting a cross where I wanted to plant. The straw in the photo blew away.  However, the blanket is still there but lost under the strawberries. 

I would definitely do this again. The blanket has kept the weeds down and I have only had to pull one or two that grew through the holes, right next to strawberries.  The blanket allows both water and air through to the soil below and the plants have flourished.

Berry fruity

The apples are coming to life.  This photo shows one of the apples that I am espaliering on the vegetable garden fence using the KNNN method.  By planting it at an angle, the new shoots are forced to grow upwards.  I will prune these to two or three buds in the summer and they should bear fruit next year.

The little flowers I showed you on the red currant earlier this month have already turned into little green currants.