Tag Archives: Blackberry

Onion and Broccoli Harvest – 5/22/2023

Amber pulled up the onions. Some of there were huge. I think onions are year-to-year the easiest crop we grow. She rigged up some wire fence across a few saw horses and hung the onions on the wire fence to dry for a week or so. He plans on freezing some and storing the rest.

We also harvested broccoli, as the weather is getting too hot. The bugs are eating it up quickly and most of it has already bolted. Good eats though!

The tomatoes are getting really close to being ripe. We picked a few that are starting to turn red because we don’t trust the local wildlife to leave them alone. The bushes are getting really tall, to the point we are going to need to top them to keep them from falling over.

The melons in the backyard are growing well. Sweet corn seems to be doing well too. Okra, not so much. I sprayed it all with a foliar fertilizer (Hasta Grow) and I hope that helps. A big mistake from last year was letting the wild non-edible melon continue to grow. The seed it released is now germinating and I have hundreds of those plants growing, in and among my useful plants. Lesson learned: stay on top of the weeding!

We also harvested a few carrots (meh). The blackberries are starting to get ripe, but they are absolutely covered with moths and wasps. Some of the plums are starting to ripen, but they are all infested with bugs because I didn’t spray insecticide at the right time. And our chickens have been naughty and are hanging out and laying eggs in our raised beds. The local rat snake found the eggs and had a nice meal.

Garden Update – May 7, 2023

My oldest fruit trees along the west side are finally producing fruit! I wish I would have been on top of spraying them for insects though. I lost 7 young fruit trees from last summer’s heat and transplanted the 4 figs that survived in pots last summer.

A few of the blackberries are already starting to ripen. I’m surprised by the number of blackberry plants that have died off. Only the thornless varieties have died, the native thorned variety I have is multiplying faster than I can keep it trimmed. A wasp was occupying the fruit I was photographing.

The raised beds in the front are all doing great. The squash and cucumbers I planted a few weeks ago are all popping up and I’ve already thinned them out. I added a layer of old tree leaves as mulch. We need to hurry up and harvest the broccoli before it bolts. Onions are almost ready to harvest. The peas are putting out fruit faster than we can keep it picked.

In the back in-ground row-garden, all the mellons, corn, okra, and cover crop is starting to come up. I thinned out the melons today and tried to transplant some of them. We should have enough melons to supply the grocery store if these do well.

We planted 4 tomato plants in the raised bed in front of our house. This bed is usually just out-of-control mint. I’m happy to see the start of delicious tomatoes well on their way! We are having a hard time keeping the chickens out of this bed though. The love to hang out and dig around.

tomato
tomato

No Frost Damage – April 15, 2020

Last week was sunny with the temperature in the 90’s, and 2 days ago a strong cold front came in and this morning at 6:45 am, we got down to 32.0F for a bit.

Freezing temperature on April 15, 2020

Baby Fruits – April 5, 2020

Some of my fruit trees are starting to show signs of fruit!

New Blackberry Plants

Aiden and I went on the tour of Texas Worm Ranch that was set up just for the members of North Texas Vegetable Gardeners. A nasty thunderstorm moved in while we were there and we hung out in the bathroom because the winds were so bad the roof next door was flying off.

After we left the worm farm, we went over to Carol Garrison’s urban homestead and she gave us a tour of her front yard vegetable garden, chickens, tropical garden, rainwater harvesting, greenhouse, composting, and fish. She dug up some of her blackberry bushes and a special okra plant and set us home with these plants! I came home and put them in the ground. I just checked on them this morning and they seem to be doing good so far.

Snap Peas and Tiny Fruits – April 22, 2019

Plants are growing at a very fast pace right now.  I finally have some sugar snap peas to harvest, but just a handful so far.  And 2 strawberries!  They were delicious.  Aiden raced me out to the garden to pick snap peas, he loves them!

Plum Trees, Blackberries, Strawberries Planted 1/31/2019

The order I placed in October from Pense Berry Farm arrived yesterday, so I planted it all today. The blackberries are a special variety bred by the University of Arkansas that grow fruit on the primocane, so they grow fruit the first year. The strawberries Chandler variety and are supposed to withstand southern climates. One of the plum trees is a special variety from Auburn University that is very disease resistant.

Tree Placement at The Gallistead Home

18) Santa Rosa Plum
22) AU Roadside Plum
near 1,2,3) Prime-Ark Freedom Blackberries (quantity 6)

Garden Update 5/12/2018

Most everything I have planted is doing great.  The snap peas are loaded and ready to harvest.  Onions are getting big.  I have some peppers and tomatoes on the vine.

The blackberry bushes I planted a few years ago are loaded with berries.  All my new blackberry transplants are alive and doing well.  Continue reading

16 Blackberrys Planted 11/11/2016

A few weeks ago, I planted 16 blackberry plants along the west side of the shop building.  I got these from a group buy from some members of the North Texas Vegetable Gardeners facebook group.  I had to drive to Denton to pick them up, but they only cost me $3 each.  I have 4 each of the following varieties:

  • Ouchita – Thornless
  • Navaho – Thornless
  • Apache – Thornless
  • Triple Crown – Thornless

I’ll plant fruit trees right next to them later this winter.