April 26, 2012 - "You have a garden, don't you?"


"You have a garden, don't you?"


Why, yes. Yes I do. How did you know?

I actually went to the grocery store in my gardening clothes the other day, and happened to look down at my knees.  They weren't this dirty, but there was definitely evidence that I'd been working in the garden that day!

Yesterday was spent digging the first of my two corn beds.  I won't have to actually dig bed #2, but bed #1 just happens to be in an area that was previously lawn, and contained a patch of Bermuda grass.  When we rototilled the new garden plot, of course the grass roots were broken off and distributed all through that entire area in the garden.  Each little (and sometimes big) root is now sprouting, so I'm trying to get them all dug out before growing crops cover them.  The corn bed was particularly bad, so I dug down a good 8-10" and sifted the soil through my fingers, pulling out every piece of root I could find.  It took the better part of the day to complete this 7'x8' section.  Then I planted it with corn seeds.  Of course, the sprouting corn and the sprouting Bermuda grass will be almost identical, so I can only hope I got most of the grass roots out of the patch.  Fun, huh?


The roots of all evil.

My indoor sprouted corn was a bust.  Of the 36 or so plants that sprouted, only about six survived. I had run out of the "potting mix that shall not be named", so I used a bit of potting soil that I'd originally purchased (and not had very good luck with) and mixed it with some peat moss and compost.  All of the corn sprouted, but it turned brown on the tips and withered.  Other seeds planted in that same mixture have failed to germinate at all.  That would include my Grandpa Ott morning glories (some were direct seeded in the garden, thankfully), the Honey Bear squash and cantaloupe.  Marigold seedlings that were up-potted into that same mixture also turned brown.  Note to self:  do not buy cheap potting soil at Lowe's, and follow your own advise to never use potting soil, only potting mix.

I had to do a bit of fence alteration yesterday.  As you know, I used the plastic mesh fencing around the garden, and put a 1' high strip of welded wire fencing all along the bottom to keep Annie from going underneath.  Otto has never tried it, but Annie would go under any chance she got.  Well, she discovered she could push the wire fencing up just enough to get her body under it, then push up on it hard enough to bend it, then get in and out of the garden again.  I removed the welded wire from the section she destroyed, and replaced it with folding wire fencing held in place firmly with bamboo stakes.  I don't think she can push up on that!  Eventually I'll probably replace all the welded wire fencing, it's just too flexible to withstand the force of Annie.

It's rainy, but warm, today.  It looks like I'll get a day off from gardening so I can do something constructive....like cleaning floors, dusting furniture and vacuuming carpets.  YUK!  But first I'll brave the rain and take a few pictures of the garden.....








Onions and potatoes are looking great!


Sugar snap peas are beginning to climb, oregano loves the spring rain, lettuce (in the background, inside "The Thing") is giving us a couple of salads a week.


Rows from left to right are dwarf cabbages, celery and two beds of carrots.  Nothing is planted between the bamboo sticks, but it will soon be planted with more carrots.


Peas are beginning to grow up their tepee trellis, radishes are being harvested every couple of days.  Broccoli is finally beginning to grow, but garlic is not doing well after being transplanted.  Beets are popping up in the foreground, and flowers have been planted in between the vegetables.  In the covered bed, the beets are growing large, I'm harvesting a small amount of spinach, and the onions grown from seed are still doing next to nothing.  Turnips in front of the bed are growing very fast.  All of the perennial flowers along the fence are looking really good, and much larger than they were this time last year.  Zinnias planted last week are still very happy here.


Behind the shed, the zucchini and yellow crookneck squash are happy campers.  I drilled some small holes in an old hose and coiled it around the squash, under black plastic and straw, so this bed can be watered without getting the squash leaves wet.  I'm hoping that will foil the powdery mildew that usually ends my summer squash season early.


The garlic that was transplanted here is doing much better than what I put in the triangle beds.  Four varieties of basil are growing in the pots, with parsley under the ladder.


My hybrid cantaloupe seeds haven't yet germinated, but I had no trouble getting seed saved from a grocery store cantaloupe to sprout.  I'll also plant a few of the packaged seeds near these, and if they do grow I'll probably pull these out, as I have no idea if they would be true to the parent melon (which was exceptionally good).  I may even just let both varieties grow and see what happens, as they don't take up an awfully lot of room like the squash.


71 comments:

  1. HOLY COW! Beautiful times 10! Great job!!

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    1. Thank you, 1st. Man. It gets better as the weather warms up. Just wait until the entire garden is a jungle of squash vines!

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  2. I just love your garden pictures, so nice and clean and all green. And yes, we all have "garden knees" :)

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    1. Thank you, Jenny. I love it when the garden changes from brown and dead to green and alive.

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  3. Your garden is looking great. I love the view of the side of your yard with the chainlink fence. Without the visual break of a solid fence it makes your yard look like it goes on forever.

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    1. Thanks, Heather. I like the view of my neighbor's big lawn, but I'm glad she's the one who has to mow it!

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  4. I did that too the other day. It wasn't the grocery store though. My husband bought a new car (he gets it today) and we were test driving. I looked down at my pants. I was trying to brush the dirt off. I swear I was out in the garden for just a little. The soil jumps up and grabs me.

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    1. Daphne, I do the same with fingernails. I'll forget, and go to hand the salesperson my money...and there they are, black fingernails. So embarrassing!

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  5. Your garden is beautiful. I have run to the store and looked down to see the same dirty knees. My main problem is that I usually garden in shorts! :)

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  6. Pure evil that stuff is! The rest of the garden looks great!

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    1. Erin, I have a lot more of that pure evil in the butternut squash bed, so I hope I get it all (or most of it) out before the vines take over. At least there it has been chopped into easily dug pieces, so I can get most of it out by following the root with the trowel.

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  7. Your garden looks great! So pristine and organized and wonderful. Wow! I'm so excited to see it progress... I, too, am going through a new bed by hand (this one is 17' x 30') and it seems that by the time I get to the end of one row, the couchgrass had rerooted at the beginning! Evil stuff, indeed. And yes, I have the tell-tale blackened fingernails... and toes!

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    1. Thank you, Fiona. That digging can get old real fast, and the bad thing is there's probably twice as much taking root that was missed.

      Let's wear our dirty knees, hands and feet with pride...the sign of a true gardener!

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  8. I'm loving that green green grass with the lilac--so much color.
    Sounds like Annie is a crafty one--that'll keep you on your toes. (as if you need another job....)
    Are you hiding the spinach from me?????????
    :D

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    1. Sue, Annie was named Dini (short for Houdini) by her breeders, because she was the puppy who could break into and out of every confinement. I changed her name, but not her abilities!

      Hey, I think someone is hiding the spinach from ME! I planted two rows that came up in less than a week then disappeared! Covered bed, so can't blame the birds. I have no idea what happened, but some of the radish seedlings and a few beets seem to be missing also. I hope the three rows of carrot survive!

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    2. That's three rows of carrots! Three rows of one carrot would be more than I could handle ;-)

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  9. Yes, your onions already look great. If I ever pluck an onion with the likes of yours from the ground I will shed a tear of joy!

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    1. Kelly, they are real close to putting one into a salad....soon!

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  10. Whew! That was a big posting! :) Indoor corn was iffy on my first attempt this year as well. Im attributing it to cold soil. There is still two large plants left though. Two feet tall or so. Hoping the outside direct-sown ones germinate and not rot in the cold soil. Shrugs. If each stalk has 3 or so ears and there is a hundred stalks in a bed.... What does one do with 300 ears of Corn!!!

    - Cloud

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    1. Stay @ Home, freeze it! You can freeze it on the cob without even blanching it. I tried both ways last year and preferred the unblanched. My favorite, though, was to cut it off the cob and just heat it with a bit of real butter, then cool, bag and freeze it. I don't remember getting three ears from each stalk very often, usually two fully formed ears and sometimes one ear that doesn't fully pollinate and is underdeveloped.

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    2. Farmer's market?

      We also freeze our full cobs without blanching. Then just boil water and put them direct from the freezer into the pot. Tastes like fresh!

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    3. Langela, that's what I do...directly into the boiling water and don't overcook it.

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  11. Oh, the onions we planted from bagged onions that sprouted.... they are producing scapes! Neat. :)

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    1. Stay @ Home, in 50+ years of gardening, I've never eaten a scape!

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  12. your garden is just so pretty and organized!

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  13. So, that's how you get rid of Bermuda grass! I never put that much effort into it, and, therefore, I still have Bermuda grass everywhere I wish it wasn't.

    Your garden -- and your lawn -- is beautiful!

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    1. Well, not really, Dianefaith. I don't think you can ever get completely rid of it, because if you break off one little root, about five more grow from it. The most horrid sound, when digging it out, is the little "pop", which means it broke. The most I can hope to do is keep it under control enough to keep it from spreading through the rest of the garden. I fought it all last year as it crept under the the neighbor's fence and into my east garden. That's why I always have a path next to the chain link fence...so I can attack upon entry!

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  14. Everything looks just perfect...

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  15. There is a lot of good stuff growing in your garden.
    Bermuda grass is soooo sneaky.

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    1. Gardener on Sherlock, fingers crossed the warm weather holds...just like every other year!

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  16. Hi Annie, I get a chuckle out of seeing your dirty knees in your jeans in the grocery store even tho they weren't that dirty! Quite often I have dirt under my fingernails! I didn't realize there was potting mix and potting soil. I had to go look and I did happen to get the potting mix! I am learning from reading people's blogs. We also had to put a fence around our garden because our Coco was eating all the veggies. Then last fall she started climbing over it. Hope she has forgot that by now! You have a wonderful garden! Nancy at Cozy Thyme Cottage

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    1. Thank you, Nancy. Be proud of that dirt under the fingernails, it's the sign of a true gardener!

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  17. Wow, that is some fierce looking bermuda roots. That must be different than the bermuda we have down south. I am actually resodding my whole backyard in Tifton 419 bermuda which is pretty much the standard in the South.

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    1. Kris, there must be different types of Bermuda grass. What we have is also called wire grass, and I've heard it called witches' grass. It chokes out our pretty green grass and turns brown all winter. Here is what it looks like as it grows...

      http://msuturfweeds.net/images/galleries/bermuda/1.jpg

      It roots on top of the ground as well as underground.

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  18. Hi Granny,

    Im Cikbugs (miss bugs) from Malaysia...really impressed by reading you blog...i love all the green here... just started gardening again hopefully it will turn out to be just like yours... lots of lov...

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    1. Cikbugs, welcome to my blog! Good luck with your gardening experience!

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  19. Bermuda grass is my #1 weed. I've been trying to extricate from the beds around the pad for almost 10 years now. Some day, maybe I will win the battle.

    I took some of my stunted lettuce seedlings and planted them in the "unmentionable" soil. In just one week they have quadrupled in size and look great. All the rest of my indoor seed starting will be with this mix!

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    1. Ed, shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I'm buying another bag of you-know-what. ;-) I'm just sick about the corn and morning glory seeds that either died or didn't sprout in the mix I used. I'm sure glad I planted some of the morning glories out along the fence. The corn seed is easily replaced, and I had plenty to direct seed that spot the other day.

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  20. Looks great Granny! I sure hope that my onions start growing. They aren't looking so good right now. Boy that Annie is sure keeping you busy!

    I have to say that I have gone to the store a couple of times in the past week or so looking much much worse then your first photo! "The Italian" would text me when I was at the plots working for "something" that he just had to have from the store!

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    1. Robin, my onions I grew by seed finally look like they'll make it. There aren't very many that survived, though.

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  21. We used to have that wicked weed when we lived in central Washington. It is not prevalent here but I have my own native evil weeds to deal with.

    Your garden is looking great! I don't have the corn or squash family plants out quite yet. traveling on business this coming week so I will probably wait until I return to do that. They are getting ready to go though. :D

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    1. Kitsap, can anything be as evil as B. grass? Maybe blackberries, but at least they are also useful.

      I planted a few squash seeds way back 2-3 weeks ago, but also grew some inside. I just set the seedlings out a couple of days ago, and wouldn't you know the direct seeded ones began popping up yesterday. Now somebody is going to have to be pulled out. But I found I can early seed it anyway :-)

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  22. Your garden looks great this year, I like the new areas you've made!
    I must have missed your post about potting soils, which brand is the"potting mix that shall not be named"? and which brand was the one that didn't work for you? I want to buy the one that works.

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    1. Elizabeth, the one that shall not be named, that brings hate comments to the blog, is Miracle Gro Potting Mix (not the organic or the moisture control, just the plain one). Ed and I both had excellent results from it. I tossed the bag from Lowe's, but it was Professional something-or-other.

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  23. Hate comments, really? I just picked up a bag of the moisture control at Costco, but I only purchase about one bag of potting soil a year and a few of bags of seed starting medium. Have you had bad results with the MG Moisture Control?

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    1. I honestly haven't tried it, Elizabeth. Just going by the complaints I've read on line. Maybe those complaining don't live in a dry climate, so the moisture control isn't necessary. I was tempted to try it anyway, as it's very dry here, and difficult keeping the plants moist. Let me know how it works out for you. I used the regular MG as my seed starting medium when I saw how much larger my up-potted seedlings were when using it. It worked fine for starting seeds, but I did mix it with some vermiculite.

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  24. I recognize those knees. . . Our squash doesn't get overhead watering but we still fight the mildew. . . You need a Kevin-fence! No dogs through that.

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  25. Oh, I forgot!! Bermuda Grass is the devil's own handwork.
    On the up side, I figure I'm good for the rest of my life, in terms of "what to do with my time," since I have so much of it to fight. And fight. And fight, and fight. . . Sigh.

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    1. Stefaneener, You do have one beautiful fence there! I wanted chain link, but got overruled. I do like the plastic mesh, as it's so easy to install, it stretches tight and doesn't sag, and it's practically invisible. Annie is just a smarty pants.

      Yes, the fight against Bermuda grass never ends. Once it gets hold of your life, you've lost the battle.

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  26. Hah! It is either the stains on the knees, or dirt caked under the fingernails. I was taking photos the other day, and my hands ended up in the pictures. I did not realize how much dirt was under my nails until the photos were blasted up on my computer screen!

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    1. Prairie Cat, it's embarrassing when you get caught, huh? :-)

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  27. I love the way that it doesn't matter how big the lawn is the dogs always want to get into the flower/veg beds.

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    1. Liz, when I say "garden bed" Annie hears "bed" and thinks it's a place for her to sleep, LOL! I think it's the warmth of the soil in the raised beds....feels good on the tummy.

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  28. Annie, I bought 4 cabbage plants today to try to grow. They are the stonehead. My new barrels are about 22 1/2 inch across in diameter and about 16 1/4 deep. Do you think it would be okay to plant all four in one barrel? I also wanted to put a geranium in the middle of them as read geraniums help repel white cabbage butterflies. What do you think? Nancy from Cozy Thymne Cottage

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    1. Oh, Nancy, I think that would really be crowding them! Those cabbages get really big, 5-6 pound heads, and the outer leaves get huge. I allow them 18"-24" per plant, and that's crowding them. If you look at the photo at the top of my blog, at the double decker bed in front of the hollyhocks, you can see that I put five heads of cabbage in a 4'x4' bed....one in each corner (2'x2' square) and one in the center. They got so large I had to trim some of the huge outer leaves before they were even fully grown. I did find sprinkling my thyme clippings around the bed repelled the cabbage moths, and they don't take up valuable growing space. If you want to grow multiple cabbages in a container, I'd suggest a dwarf variety like Gonzales or Pixie.

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  29. OH,OH! Too late. I should have read the directions on the tag! lol Too late for the dwarf variety as already bought the Stonehead. Hmmmm. Guess I will have to refigure my garden! I need more space! How bout if I put one tomoto in each of the four barrels instead? Would that work? Glad you told me about the thyme clippings. I do have thyme growing so will use that!! Appreciate all your knowledge! Nancy at Cozy Thyme Cottage

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    1. Nancy, I grow tomatoes in five gallon buckets, so I'm sure your barrel would work well for that. Other things you might consider would be some peppers with basil, or a bush type squash (acorn or zucchini for instance), or cucumbers with some dwarf nasturtiums or sweet alyssum around the outside edge. Potatoes or sweet potatoes grow well in them. I grew lovely Petit Gris melons in a barrel one year. Of course, strawberries always do well in them. You could even put a pole in the middle, run twine, tepee style, down to the rim of the barrel, and plant pole beans. Eggplant is pretty in a barrel....LOL, enough ideas?

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    2. Thanks Annie for all your suggestions. I have even copied your ideas off to save for future use. I think I will use three of the barrels for tomatoes and put a cherry tomato one in a five gallon bucket. Will use the fourth barrel for a butternut squash. Will put the cabbages in the regular little garden for this year. At least that is what my plans are tonight! lol Nancy

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  30. If that Bermuda grass sprouts in your corn bed, try spraying it with straight white vinegar. I read about it somewhere and decided to try it. It works on Scraggly St. Augustine grass that was creeping into a bed, so it may work on Bermuda grass, too. Bermuda grass is nothing but an extremely invasive weed, as far as I am concerned. It'd be fine if it stayed in the lawn like it's supposed to, but it wants to take over the world!

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    1. I'll give that a try, SB! Hey, where are you? It's been a year since you blogged, and I MISS you!

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  31. Hi Annie,

    I just found your blog and love what you are doing. I found you when I googled images of raspberry trellises. I have four young children and very little time to garden, but I love my raspberries and have decided to start with them. I want to give them some extra TLC and build a trellis. I really like the look of your trellis. Did you build it yourself? Was it difficult? Could you refer me to any links on your blog that cover your raspberries and trellis? I couldn't figure out how to search your archives for this topic :(

    I'm looking forward to reading through your archives and enjoying your garden :)

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  32. Susan, the trellis is simple to build, just two eight foot long 4"x4" posts set two feet into the ground. I would concrete the bases in if I were doing it over, but I used some old posts I had that were shorter, so mine are just strapped to the raised bed. They are a bit wobbly! Anyway, I just used pieces of 1" x 2" boards for the cross arms, with holes drilled in the ends for inserting the wires. Probably the most informative post I made on the raspberry bed is this one:

    http://annieskitchengarden.blogspot.com/2011/07/july-31-2011-raspberry-patch.html

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    1. Ooops, I realized I called you any in my earlier comment :) Sorry Granny (it seems that's what everyone was calling you in that excellent post you directed me to about the raspberries).

      Thank you very much for getting back to me so promptly. Your post on raspberries had lots of great information. My raspberries were a gift about a dozen years ago and have moved with me through two other gardens. I don't know what variety they are, but even neglected from time to time after the birth of each of my children they soldier on!

      I'm looking forward to trying to build the trellis myself. Wish me luck and thank you for such clear directions.

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    2. LOL, Susan, a lot of people call me "Annie" because of the name of my blog, not realizing "Annie" is my little girl dog and I'm her "Granny". If I had it to do all over again, I'd call it "Granny's Kitchen Garden", but when I began, I thought I'd be the only one reading it, and thought it was funny to name it after the one who was doing most of the digging at the time....Annie!

      Good luck on the trellis, but I'm not so sure I wouldn't rather have four metal T-posts just pounded into the ground at the corners of the raspberry bed, then wire strung from them. I went for the big posts because (a) I already had them and (b) I wanted to set a birdhouse on the top!

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    3. I love that you named your blog after the one who did most of the digging. Interesting thought about the metal T-posts, will have to think about that...

      I was inspired to go out and dig around the raspberries and free them from the weeds that were invading. It felt very good when I was done. I also paid attention to the old and new growth, thinking I'd pull out the old. However, it looks like both have flower buds on them. I'll leave them be and see which produce berries. Maybe I'll eventually figure out what kind I have :)

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    4. Susan, it does get confusing as to how to prune them, as summer raspberry canes are treated completely different than everbearing. I messed mine up for this year by pruning them too short last fall! I hope I get a decent harvest from them, because I'm just opened my very last jar of jam :-(

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