Gardening: Fruit Failures & Successes

In addition to our raised bed garden, we’ve tried to grow more edibles throughout our backyard.   Some successfully, some not.  We inherited mint along the cedar fence, along with a blackberry bush and a very small raspberry bush.  After some serious TLC last summer, all of these flourished over the past few months.  We had a decent amount of raspberries and a lot of blackberries.  If we hadn’t had a terrible heatwave/drought that zapped some of the blackberries, there would have been even more.  Both bushes need to be pruned back for the health of the plant and to encourage production next year (blackberries in particular only produce fruit on two year old branches).

Blackberries, raspberries, sweet peas - last Summer (2010)

Blackberries, raspberries and sweet peas in the early summer (2011)

Blackberries, raspberries, sweet peas in the late summer (before pruning)

Ripening raspberries (in July)

On the other side of the backyard, we only had a few strawberries this year, but the plants multiplied drastically over the summer so hopefully next spring will be much more productive.  Our blueberry bushes did not fare so well - two died and the surviving bush is barely hanging on.  Next year we’ll have to try again with more mature bushes.  The fig tree was a dud.  Luckily I received a replacement voucher from the company (they guarantee their plants) and will order another next year.
 

The ever-multiplying strawberries

The lemon and lime trees I got for my birthday are doing great.  All summer long I’ve been watching the little lemons grow bigger and bigger, eagerly anticipating their ripening.  The lime tree was too young to produce anything yet, but my fingers are crossed for next year because we use a lot of citrus in our house.

Lemons on the lemon tree