Mason Bees in my garden

I enjoy nurturing the native bees and providing nesting homes for them. Since we have five fruit trees, four blueberry plants, 50 strawberries and multiplying raspberries, my garden keeps these bees working. I like them because they work in the rain, unlike other pollinators. I have some cute bee houses and some practical, jury rigged ones and they both do the job.

The wire one above is what I will explain. Mason Bee season here in the Puget Sound lowlands runs from about March 15 when you put them out until mid July when they are ready for storage. Recently I have learned about these predatory wasps that drill holes in the cardboard straws to lay their eggs, ultimately killing the developing Mason Bees. This year I am using white cardboard tubes placed in natural reeds, hoping to discourage the predatory wasps. The tan tubes with mud closures are the bees from 2017 and the white tubes are the nesting sites for 2018.

Peaches from Eastern Washington

22 lbs. for $15.

Peaches did not grow in Minnesota (too cold) and were shipped in from Colorado or California back then. We did not eat many fresh peaches. Now I see peaches readily available and at very reasonable prices. Yesterday I got a 22 lb. box of Freestone peaches for only $15. At Olmsteads fruit stand (and nursery in Poulsbo). I also learned the difference between Cling (which ripen in June/July) and Freestone (which ripen now). This is an important distinction, because I planned to process them for freezing.

Planning ahead before you start is the key to success. For me, it was like setting up stations at school.

Station 1
Crate of peaches (cut an X at top of each peach. This will help with peeling), water boiling in a large pot (blanch 40 seconds) , large bowl of ice water to stop the blanching and bowls to drain the cooled peaches.

Station 2
Plastic bag in a pot to contain the mess of waste, skins and seeds. A bowl with Fruit Fresh (dissolved in water as stated on the package), the glass container used to freeze sliced peaches overnight before cutting them in Ziplock freezer bags for storage.

I got all the peaches processed to the end of station one, or to the draining point, before I peeled and cut any.

This has been a very satisfying preservation project that took about 1 1/2 hours to complete. Tomorrow I will transfer the frozen peaches to Ziplock bags for storage.

Fruit and veggie update

Mostly success to report about my Spring garden. If you have any questions about what you see, leave a question or comment below. Let’s dialog.

Forsythia, Crocus and Other Signs of Spring

Today is the first day I noticed the yellow starting to show on my forsythia bush. It is such a busy time of year here. My strawberry patch took a hit from the cold over the winter, so today I bought 24 plants to fill in spaces where I pulled out dead dry plants recently. So much to do and so little dry weather to get it done!

Interlaken white grapes

In addition to the Concord grapes I have been sharing recently, our property also has three Interlaken white grape vines. I have been nurturing them along all summer but they are just not what I would call a pleasant tasting table grape. I have a feeling that the previous gardener must have been a winemaker. Too bad because that is not at all what we would do. They look pretty, but are not sweet. Maybe they are not totally ripe yet? It seems late in the season now, but I will just let them be.

Concord grape harvest

Thursday evening I learned a little more about fruit gardening by attending a meeting of the Kitsap Peninsula Fruit Club. These folks really know their fruit! I think I have identified the three grape varieties in my garden that were planted by the previous gardener: Interlaken, Seedless Concord and Candace. Today I harvested Seedless Concord.
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Harvest for dessert

Harvest for dessert!

Grapes – a learning experience!

Our home property came with five grapevines which I have ignored for two years, partly because I do not know anything about grapes and have never seen them grown. Another concern is that I do not know what I would do with all those grapes when they ripen in September. Last year I think the birds and critters ate them. Not wanting to continue wasting good food, today I pruned the vines to aid the ripening.I understand that I should have done that second pruning in June when the clusters started forming. Also, since grapes are indeterminate, pruning vines during the growing season is necessary. I think one vine is Interlachen, a seedless white table grape. I found a tag near the ground. Does anyone recognize these grapes? They are in the second set of photos below. Some local folks told me about covering the grapes to help keep the birds and critters away.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

We have become stewards of several fruit trees planted by a previous gardener. Yesterday, Mike climbed up the larger cherry tree with a chain saw and thinned it out. I so wanted a picture of him up that tree, but did not plan ahead and get a camera outdoors. I was the spotter under the tree. After cleaning up all the branches and leaves, we wondered if it is also time to do the same to the plum tree on the property. This is a large, not very beautiful tree, in a corner that shades a nice area for growing roses. When I first saw that tree, two plus years ago, I wanted it taken down. Boy am I glad that did not happen! It has the most tasty plums you can imagine. Unlike any in the grocery. So this year it has a large crop of plums and I decided to pick the ripe ones today. Luckily, my neighbor over the back fence shared his invention for getting fruit high up in the tree and I got a big bowl full of plums plus some to share!

Garden grapes

Since I have had no grapes in two seasons, this year I decided to hire a landscaper to prune the grapes last winter. We would always get lots of vines and leaves but no grapes. Now I understand why. The landscaper had experience with grapes and really pruned hard and went on about fruiting spurs…

The variety is Interlochen. Now I have more fruit to protect from birds!