Spring Cleaning

A few weeks ago, we began the task of cleaning up the raised beds behind our townhouse.  The beds had been left unattended to for at least the past year so much of the work involved lots of weeding.  Here, Marc is clearing out the crowded strawberry bed.  This is where I'll be growing much of my tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and string beans.  

I haven't done too much planting up until now.  The snow peas, shell peas and fava beans have sprouted but are growing rather slowly.  I also transplanted some spinach, lettuce and Asian greens not too long ago.  The rest will have to wait until May as temperatures are expected to reach down into the low 30's later on this week.


A while back, I also began work on cleaning up the overgrown soft fruit bed beside our unit.  I pruned back many of the shrubs, removed lots of dead branches and cleared out most of the weeds. Now all it needs is a top dressing of some good compost.

I wouldn't say that I know all that much about pruning fruit trees and shrubs.  Mostly, I pruned each shrub to a manageable size and shape and removed dead and crossing limbs.  I'm looking forward to seeing this elderberry bush in fool bloom.

As you can see from this picture, the raspberries have taken over much of this bed. I suspect that it's an everbearing variety because I remember seeing some fruit on the canes when we visited last December. In any case, I pruned back the tops and will wait to see if they produce an early summer crop as well. It's hard to see in this picture but there are also two black currant bushes behind the raspberry canes.

In addition to the black currants, there are also white and red varieties in the bed. The "Red Lake" currant bush in particular is loaded with buds. Hopefully it will produce well this year.


In addition to two dwarf cherry trees beside our unit, there's also a shrub that's described as a "bush cherry" in this bed.   I'm not quite sure what this is but it's flowering profusely right now.  I'll have to do some googling.

 

Finally, the four sorely neglected blueberry bushes don't look like they've done much growing thus far. Hopefully that will change as I would love to take some green wood cuttings this summer.