It’s June and in Northern California, that means the start of raspberry season. The local berry farms have opened for picking and the stores are full of ripe, red beauties.
This past weekend I did my first ever raspberry picking from a friend’s raspberry patch. There are few things more sweetly satisfying than fresh berries straight from the vine. And the good news is, it isn’t that hard to grow your own. Check out the stats below to see if raspberries might be a good fit for your garden.
Common name: Raspberry
Scientific name: Rubus idaeus
Family: Rosaceae
Origin: Eurasia
Type: Shrub
Exposure: Full sun (may also fruit in light shade in hottest areas)
Height: 4-6′
Width: 3-5′
Growth rate: Fast
Water: Regular
Zones: 3-8
Foliage color: Green
Flower color: White
Edible: Berries
Harvest: Summer-bearing raspberries, throughout the summer; fall-bearing varieties, in fall and summer the following year — consider planting summer and fall-bearing varieties together to extend your season
Propagation: Greenwood cuttings, division
WARNING: Most raspberry bushes have thorns. Try a thornless variety for easier harvest.
A few other quick notes on raspberries:
- Raspberries do require room to spread, so they are probably not the best choice for small space container gardening. (I did manage a thornless boysenberry in a pot once, but got very little fruit.)
- Raspberries do require annual pruning to maintain size and to ensure the most bountiful harvest. The timing and type of pruning varies for summer and fall-bearing varieties (more on that in a separate article).
- To keep bushes neat, minimize disease and make havesting easier, build a berry trellis.
Learn more about raspberries.
Recycled, a 6-minute documentary film, follows a homeless poet through his day in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The cinematography is as inspiring as what he has been able to do with an empty piece of dirt in the median of a neighborhood street. (Shown with subtitles.)
View it online.
Summer heat is already beating down across much of the nation, spelling disaster for many young seedlings. So what can you do to protect your future food investment? Try these tips for how to help your plants beat the heat.
Water
Check moisture levels daily, maybe even more often for container plants. When the mercury starts cruising up over 85… 95… 105 water evaporates in a flash. And when your plants are young, their tender root systems can be irreparably damaged before you know it.
Water first thing in the morning before the sun gets too high and the day gets too hot. This helps in two ways. First, plants draw up water through the roots as the temperature rises. If the soil is dry they will draw up only air. Secondly, any water dripped on the leaves can turn into tiny magnifying glasses burning the leaves with the sun’s heat.
Mulch
When it’s hot out, you’ll need to do more than water regularly, you’ll need to preserve as much of that water as you can. Adding a good, thick layer of mulch around your plants can help keep the moisture in the soil. As an added bonus it will also help keep your plants’ roots cool.
Shade
Sometimes, the only way to keep your plants from whithering under the sun, is to move them to the shade until the worst of the heat passes. If you plant in containers, all you need to do is pull them to a shadier spot. If you plant in the ground however, you can still protect them by putting up a temporary shade cloth. A few bamboo poles and an old sheet is an inexpensive and simple solution.
Keep a close eye out for the signs your plants might be suffering from the heat including wilting, brown edges and scorch marks. If you notice any of these signs, act quickly and your precious plants can live to fruit another day.
There are many reasons to build a raised bed for your vegetable garden. Inhospitable soil, a gardener’s special needs and digging pets are just a few. Recently my mother decided to build a raised vegetable bed against the back wall of her house, so we spent Mother’s Day doing just that. The bed she designed was 16 feet long by 27 inches long by 16 inches high.
We used:
- Cement blocks (24)
- Half blocks (4)
- Cap stones (13)
- Sand (10 - 60 lb. bags)
- Rebar (30 - 24″ bars)
- Concrete adhesive
Tools:
- Level
- Rubber mallet
- Sledge hammer
- Stakes and string
Begin by deciding where you’d like to place your raised bed and how big you’d like it to be. Measure carefully then use those measurements to calculate how many blocks, half-blocks and cap-stones you will need. We used approximately 1 60 lb. bag of sand for every 3 blocks. Rebar should be at least 6″ longer than the height of your wall. The longer it is, the more sturdy it will be. Make sure there are no pipes or drains directly below where your wall will be so you don’t risk damaging them when you install the rebar.
Once you’ve done the math and picked up your supplies, you can get to work. First, clear away all weeds and debris. It also helps to loosen the soil approximately 6 inches below the surface. Once that’s done, level the bed — especially the area where you will be building your walls. The more level you can get it now, the quicker the wall building will go later.
If you are building your bed against a wall or fence, you will need to install some sort of water barrier to protect the structure from rot and/or pests (dirt against exposed wood is a termite’s dream). For easiest installation, use a water barrier with an adhesive on one side. It costs a little more, but the time savings and ease of installation are worth it.
If weeds are a problem in your garden-to-be, cover the bed with weed blocking fabric. Newspaper is another way to suppress weeds, but because it breaks down over time you may want to use something more permanent under the wall itself. If you are growing vegetables with deep root systems, leave the center of the bed free of weed block so the roots can pass freely. This is especially important for root vegetables.
Once the fabric is down, pour a layer of sand on top of it. This will make it easier to level the blocks as you install them. Install one block at a time working from one corner to another, leveling as you go. Tapping the blocks with a rubber mallet can help. For best results, tie a string between two stakes as a guide to keep the wall straight.
Fill holes in cement blocks with sand to help stabilize them. Insert rebar (rebar should be at least 6 inches longer than the height of your wall) into the outside corners of each hole along the side closest to where the dirt will be. This will help support the weight of the dirt and make sure the wall does get pushed outward over time.
Hammer rebar down into the blocks using a sledge or other heavy hammer. Note that the rebar may stop when it hits the weed cloth, but another hit or two should push it through. If that doesn’t work, you may have hit a rock. Reposition the rebar and try again. For maximum strength, make sure you always place the rebar along the side of the block that will be supporting the dirt.
Once the wall is complete, and the blocks are filled, wet the sand thoroughly. This will help the sand settle down into the blocks and stabilize the wall. When it dries, add cement cap-stones to the top the wall using a cement adhesive to keep them in place. Once the wall is complete, cement blocks can be painted or brushed with white-wash for a more professional (or more colorful) look.
Once your walls are finished, just add soil and plant. The number of blocks and quantity of other materials you’ll need will depend on the size and height of your bed and the materials you choose. Be sure to do the math ahead of time to avoid installation problems and multiple trips to the store.
Ah, rhubarb. It makes a fabulously tart pie filling, a tasty compote ingredient, a striking specimen planting, and yes, it even grows Little Shop of Horrors-style flowers if you don’t mind sacrificing a season’s worth of stalks. Watch for snails and your plant will be as beautiful as it is tasty.
Common name: Rhubarb
Scientific name: Rheum x hybridium
Family: Polygonaceae
Origin: Asia
Type: Perennial, can be grown as annuals in mild-winter areas
Exposure: Full sun (light shade in hottest areas)
Height: 24-36″
Width: 24-48″
Growth rate: Fast
Water: Regular
Zones: 3-8
Foliage color: Dark green
Flower color: Pink/burgundy
Edible: Stalks only
Harvest: Varies, usually late spring and early fall in North America
Propagation: Rhizomes, division
WARNING: ALL parts of the plant except the stalk are poisonous. Be sure to trim all leaf parts from the stalks before cooking.
Looking for fun ways to use all those rosy stalks? Check out these online recipes:
Still can’t get enough? Try one of these rhubarb-focused cookbooks:
Here’s a quick, easy way to have fresh greens all summer long (or year-round if you live in a mild-winter area). All you need are a few simple, inexpensive items:
Hanging planter- Potting soil or soiless potting mix
- Lettuce or mixed greens seeds
- A shady location to hang your basket
- Wire screen (optional)
I selected a plastic self-watering container because it needs to be watered less often than other hanging baskets, but just about any hanging container with good drainage will do. Once you select your container, just:
- Add soil
- Sprinkle the seeds on top
- Water gently so the seeds don’t get washed away
- Hang the basket in a lightly shaded spot — tree branches work great because they allow some sun to pass through their leaves while protecting the tender lettuce from the worst afternoon heat
If you have birds or squirrels in your area, you may want to cover the basket with wire screen to protect the seedlings from getting snapped up before they are big enough for your plate.
After that, just keep the soil evenly moist and you’re on your way to delicious gourmet greens at a fraction of their store-bought price. For best results and to keep the goodness coming:
- Snip only a few leaves from each plant at a time
- When a plant is done producing, pull it out and sprinkle in more seeds
Enjoy!
This year, give your Cinco de Mayo celebration a gardener’s twist by planting a salsa garden. It’s a great way to add fresh latin flavor to any meal.
For my salsa garden I chose:
- 1 Cherokee Purple tomato
- 1 Garden Salsa chili pepper
- 1 Jalapeno peper
- Several onions (I purchased a small six-pack and shared it with friends)
- 1 cilantro
You’ll need:
- A large pot and potting soil or clear planting area in your garden that receives at least six full hours of sun per day
- One tomato cage per tomato plant
- Mulch
- A variety of salsa vegetable and herb plants
To plant your salsa garden:
- Clear your planting bed of any rocks and weeds (find container planting instructions and tips here)
- Leaving your plants in their pots, arrange them on the soil to decide where each plant will go–put the tallest plants in the back so they don’t block the sun from reaching the smaller plants
- Dig a hole for each plant slightly wider and deeper than its current pot
- Plant each plant
- Water thouroughly
- Mulch
Be sure to water regularly throughout the season and by early august, you should have all the makings of the perfect fiesta.
Have more space? Consider planting a dwarf lime tree or an indoor avocado for even more options.
Dig deeper:
A Salsa Garden with Everything but Nachos
