Fruit Harvest?…

Last week’s yield from our gardens…Don’t open your fruit stand yet.

Damned squirrels. They can be blamed for the single peach– our fruit trees were loaded this spring! I know it sounds like the proverbial one-that-got away story. I should have taken photos!  Those little trees did produce handsomely, and the squirrels enjoyed the hard, unripened fruit down to the pits, which they left all over under the maple at the back of the property. Little gnawed peach pits, presumably as a thank you gift. Or as a marker: “Yo. Adrian. I was here.”  Or possibly a rude squirrel hand gesture.

Anyway, the blueberries are netted (HAH- HAH- HAH so there) which means I can’t blame squirrels nor birds for the palky production. It’s just the bushes aren’t up to speed yet. Still. Maybe the soil’s not right? One bed’s soil wasn’t seasoned a year before being planted, as it’s recommended. And last year’s drought probably slowed some of the root growth down. Our PA blueberry growing has been challenging.

Once we DID have a blueberry bush that REALLY produced (I sound like bad King John) but then our neighbors put up a solid, bright white plastic fence and besides I foolishly planted a water-hogging mulberry too close… And that finished that mama bush off. Edward has a saying: “The hated mulberry.” He has a low opinion of all mulberries. The nursery said the mulberry was a dwarf. It was supposed to keep the birds away from the blueberries. Edward was very nice about being right and didn’t rub it in.

And this week’s single strawberry. Sigh. Well,  I purchased those plants frivolously from the grocery store, with no particular plan, and planted them at the edge of the blueberry bed. They are doing great! Spreading beautifully. Blueberries and strawberries like the pine needly soil there. These strawberries are everbearing apparently, so they don’t have one big crop, but produce sporadically all summer. However, the blueberries behind them are not doing great this year. I do wonder if this is a repetition of the mulberry scenario…

Or of the strawberry/rhubarb saga. I tried growing strawberries under rhubarb once as companion plants, and  to suppress weeds– and found that the strawberries charged forward, hogging too much of the soil nutrients. My rhubarb didn’t consider them good company.

The moral of the story: fruit can be hard to grow. I just never get tired of trying! Why? Because the two peaches that we’ve eaten from our trees are the best tasting peaches that I’ve had this summer. Same for the strawberries – very good flavor. And the blueberries that Mama blueberry bush used to make (back in the MD garden) were some of the best tasting blueberries. You simply can’t beat food for taste or nutrition that comes right off the branch or vine into your kitchen. ♥️