Fall Cleanup

The Raspberry Patch Needs a Good Fall Cleanup

October 15, 2011 By Annie

I mentioned earlier that in June, I had given the Raspberry patch a thorough weeding and clean up. At this time of year, it is very easy to just pull up any new shoots that are “out of order”. If you don’t tidy up your patch in Spring, you will be amazed at how difficult it will be for you to get in there and pick berries later in the season.

It’s a really good plan to do this again once Fall arrives. By this time, you can easily tell which shoots have had fruit on them this year. Look at this first picture below:

The Raspberries are inside the fence on the far right side. See how you can easily differentiate? There are two sets of Raspberry plants in there:

1. Last year’s Suckers – these are the shoots that are a paler green. They had fruit on them earlier this year.

2. This year’s Suckers – Don’t pull all of these out as these are the shoots that will fruit Next year.

Once Berry season is over with, get in the patch and cut all those paler green shoots (the ones that gave you fruit this year). Cut them down as close to the ground as you can. We just throw ours in the bush next to the Berry Garden, but you could put them on your compost.

It goes without saying that you need to wear a long sleeved shirt and gloves for doing this. I always have a long sleeved lightweight shirt hanging on a fence post or in the Greenhouse, so I can quickly grab it when needed.

Here’s the Raspberry Patch after those paler shoots have been cut down. It’s starting to look better but the job isn’t done quite yet.

Now, get in there and pull out every single Raspberry shoot that is not within the rows you had planned. Raspberries are notorious for sending up new shoots willy nilly and if you don’t do this, you will again face the problem of battling your way through them in order to pick. Picking Raspberries should be a relaxing homestead chore, one that takes time and of course you have to stop to eat a few every now and then.

If you did a good job of cleaning up the Bed earlier this year, then it won’t take you long to pull out any shoots that grew in since. Be ruthless when it comes to pulling shoots – you will always have lots of Raspberries.

Here’s the finished result – there’s a definite pathway, which will make it easier to amend the soil with some well composted manure. Come Spring when the new growth starts, you’ll more easily be able to get to the plants to pull out any extra shoots. Keep this up and Raspberry picking will be a delight, not torture.

What to do with the extra shoots? The best thing to do with them is add more rows. Is there such a thing as too many Raspberries? I don’t think so – use them in Pies, Crisps, lots to eat fresh, then start making Raspberry Jam. Once you have enough Jam put away for the year, start making Juice. You can can it or freeze it. Still have more Raspberries coming? Think about making a small batch of Raspberry Wine. A couple of years ago we did a Saskatoon Berry/Raspberry wine blended together and we still think it is the best wine we have produced here in the Valley. I will work towards getting that recipe and photos put up here on the wesbite.

Back to the matter at hand – you’ve decided you do need more Raspberry plants. In the Spring, when you pull out all the new shoots coming up in places you don’t want them, just move them to where you do want them.

Prepare the new bed with native soil and a good amount of well composted manure. Dig through it thoroughly so the soil is light and airy. Transplant the pulled shoots directly into this bed. Make sure you leave 3 feet or so between the rows – the more the better. If you don’t have a lot of extra room to give up for the new patch, then you will just have to get in there and weed more often once the plants are established and sending up new shoots of their own.

I don’t bother digging up any shoots I want to save for replanting elsewhere. I just pull the plant out and it usually comes out with lots of root attached. So, dig or pull, whichever you feel like. Raspberries are hardy plants, they will survive almost anything.

Transplant them, firm up the soil around the new planting and then add some water. Next year, you will be glad you did this because you will be enjoying the fruits of your labour.

Raspberries are a wonderful inexpensive addition to your backyard – once you feel you have enough, then start giving away those extra shoots you pull. Really, you should never have to pay for Raspberry plants, they are often shared amongst neighbours and friends who want to add them to their own gardens.

Raspberries are one of the easiest fruits to grow. They offer quite a few health benefits such as improved immune systems, better vision, disease prevention and more.

Raspberries do take a bit of maintenance, but it won’t amount to more than an hour (and usually much less) when you do have to weed or move plants. The rest of the time, just enjoy picking and eating them!

www.countrylivinginacariboovalley.com

Tucking Your Yard in for Winter – Part 2 The Garden

October 4, 2011 By Annie

During the Spring and Summer months, we were busy with planting seeds, transplanting seedlings, weeding, irrigating, weeding again, thinning, more weeding and finally harvesting vegetables and fruits.

Our Vegetable and Berry Gardens have given us a fantastic harvest, even though the weather this year was mostly cool and quite rainy. Sure we had two or three weeks of Summer, but gorgeous hot sunny days would be followed quickly by cooling temperatures and even more rain. We were on the other side of the pressure system that brought so much heat and drought to other areas of Canada and the USA.

With our native soil being clay (and I mean heavy clay, clods of clay) we need to continually be amending the Gardens with things like compost, manure, leaves etc. Most Gardeners have a compost pile, but we don’t have one.

Usually these pigs take the place of a compost pile. Where other Gardeners throw all the lawn trimmings, kitchen waste, vegetable plant trimmings, etc onto their Compost, we normally just toss it in for our pigs. They love almost everything we bring them and we will get the goodness returned to us by adding the pig manure to our large manure pile.

We have access to Horse Manure and lots of it – friends here in the Valley have several horses and they are always willing to have us take away manure from their pile.

As the Garden year progresses and vegetables are harvested, sometimes we will plant another vegetable in its place. Peas, for instance, usually don’t carry on setting pods throughout the whole Summer here. So when they are finished, we pull them and plant some more Broccoli or even Radishes in place of the Peas.

At some point, we stop with planting new rows and instead start putting a nice thick layer of manure on the row. If we do this is mid-Summer, we use only well composted manure (it has been sitting in our pile for at least 3 months).

At the end of the Gardening season, once the vegetables have been harvested, we really start loading the horse biscuits onto the Garden. As we get an area done, I grab container of Fall Rye and liberally seed it on top of the Manure. Then, I rake it in, it doesn’t have to be a perfect job but raking it in will ensure that the seed has made contact with the “soil”. A tip: You can buy Fall Rye at your local feed store for much cheaper than you can get it at the Garden Centre. I buy Fall Rye in a 60 pound bag for less than $20.oo

As Autumn progresses and the leaves start to fall from the trees, we rake them up and add them to the Garden as well.

Buckwheat is also used in our Gardens – we love to use Buckwheat as a mid season soil amendment because it grows and matures so quickly. However, because Buckwheat does not tolerate frost well, we cannot use it to its full potential in the Fall.

There is really no possibility of “too much of a good thing” here – the more amendments you can add, the more your soil will improve. Unfortuately, this is not a one time thing (wouldn’t that be great!) but it is a part of the yearly process of trying to improve the Garden soil. Feeding your soil needs to be part of the ongoing process of Gardening. During the growing season, use well composted manure to side dress and top dress your vegetables.

And feeding your soil pays off - amend your soil this year and you will see the improvement next year. Then, repeat next year and reap the benefits the year after that.

If you have Perennial Vegetables and Fruits growing, give these areas a thorough weeding in early Fall. Then, add a nice thick layer of well composted manure all around these plants. They will benefit greatly for the added attention and your Harvest should be better the following year.

If you have Raspberry Canes growing, be sure to get in that patch now and cut this years fruiting wood down to the ground. This will clean up your patch, get rid of any dead wood and you will get many new suckers come Spring. This year’s new suckers will bear net years fruit - a good thing to keep in mind!

If you use Row Covers or netting in the Garden, now is the time to remove them. Clean them first before putting them away. I use clothespin to attach the Row Covers to the perimeter Garden fence and then hose them down really well. Leave them for half hour or so to dry, then I fold them and bring them in the house for the Winter. Taking care of items like these will ensure they will last years longer!

So get started on getting your Gardens ready for their Winter rest. Just as we rest from Gardening during the Winter, our Gardens deserve to rest as well. Enrich the soil by adding compost, leaves and whatever else you can find and then let the snow cover insulate the area. Your Garden will be happier next year because of the work you put in this Fall.

www.countrylivinginacariboovalley.com

Filed Under: Cover Crops/Green Manure, Fall Cleanup Tagged With: buckwheat, Soil

Tucking Your Yard In For The Winter – Part 1

September 29, 2011 By Annie

Ahhh, Fall – that wonderful time of the year. The temperatures are dropping and it’s wonderful for working outside. The leaves start changing colour and just by looking around, you can see everything starting to get ready for the coming Winter.

The Garden Harvests have slowed down somewhat, but you’re still digging up potatoes, perhaps pulling off the last of the ripe tomatoes and grabbing the squash before the frosts start coming.

It’s time – time to start putting your Garden to bed for the wintertime. Winter is a period of rest. For us Food Gardening fanatics, it’s a time of standing back and gazing upon all those jars of canned goods now sitting on your pantry shelf. Your Cold Room is filling up, not only with surplus jars of canned Tomato Sauce, Green Beans and Beets, but also sacks of Potatoes, Onions and Garlic. You should be well supplied for the Winter – good for you!

Time to sit down now and have a bit of a rest. We’ve all earned that extra cup of tea and “bum in seat” time now. There is still lots to do, but the hurried pace has slowed a bit.

Now is the time to think about what still needs to be done. In our Valley, it is crucial to start picking things up. We have a (bad) habit of leaving things out during the Summer. Shovels, hoes, pitchforks, they can all be found either laying in the Garden or leaned up against various fences depending on where they were used last.

If we don’t pick things up in the Fall, there is a chance we will not see them again until Spring. Once the snow flies things disappear pretty quick around here.

So, walk around and gather up all your tools. Shovels, hoes and the like will benefit from a good cleaning. Dip a cloth in some used motor oil and wipe your tools with it. This will help keep your tools from rusting.

Gather up all your Garden hoses, irrigation timers and the like. Store your hoses under cover and bring the timers and manifolds into the house to keep them there over Winter.

Clean your house gutters! The Gman usually cleans ours twice during the Fall, as we have so many Aspens around the house dropping leaves. It’s a job that no one likes to do, but it is necessary for when those Winter rains come.

If you live in deep snow areas, be sure to gather up all your yard lights. We have a lot of Solar Lights in our yard and I make sure they all get brought up to the house to be stored, at least for awhile. Sometimes in February, I will put them back out, setting them into the snow. I like to wait until I think the majority of snow has fallen. With all the snow shovelling we do around our home, I don’t want the extra work of having to dig the solar lights out of the snow!

Raking the lawn area to get rid of the dried thatch is a good idea now, if you have the time. Giving the lawn one last mow is also on the list – it will help your lawn get off to a better start next Spring.

When your Perennial flowers start dying back, it is a good time to cut them down close to the ground. Some people like to leave this job until the Spring and it certainly can provide some Winter interest to see the heads of grasses or dried Hydrangeas covered with snow. Whether you do this job now or in Spring, the steps are the same – cut back your Perennial plants almost to the ground, remove the debris and add it to your Compost pile. Come Spring, these plants will send up new growth and be healthy and blooming within a few months.

Trim any Shrubs that need it. Trim just above a leaf set and if the stems are quite sturdy, you can use these to make a teepee around more fragile Perennials. Just push them into the ground and add lots of leaves or straw to the teepee for extra protection.

In the next post, I’ll concentrate on the Vegetable and Fruit Gardens, as well as compost piles.

www.countrylivinginacariboovalley.com

Filed Under: Fall Cleanup Tagged With: self sufficiency, vegetables