Tuesday 7 March 2017

Even though...


Even though we are hoping to move, I saw some really cheap raspberry canes called {Heritage}, which fruit in August/September.  AND some blueberry plants (I wont call them bushes they are little more than a stick right now), these are called {Patriot}.  I bought 3 of each, they were 20p each.  Twenty whole pennies each!!!  I made sure each plant had some leaves on it, as I have fallen for this before where I plant a stick and nothing happens, nothing grows and I say to myself, maybe it was damaged in the shop and I need to give it another year.  Then I am faithfully watering a stick for 2 years.  lol 

I also bought a wiegela called {Bristol Ruby}, I like this plant and already have 2 other wiegelas.  The 2 I already own, seem to attrach a lot of bees, which I will want to promote in our next garden.  You guessed it, this was also 20p.

My last plant I didnt know what it was, but it looked nice on the box, It is called {Lonicera Tatarica}, this will hopefully flower in May/June.  I have now found out that it is a honeysuckle.  I hope it has a good scent that will also bring pollinators into the garden,  This plant really does look like 2 sticks right now, it was worth the chance of spending the 20p.  Honeysuckle is poisonous to dogs, I have placed it in the greenhouse and this will be in an area where the dogs wont be allowed at the new house.  Marta has taken to digging to China, they will therefore be 2 areas both dogs arent allowed.  The veg garden and the BBQ area.  I hope to use the honeysuckle as am arbour cover in the BBQ area.  This is all pie in the sky as I have no idea how big our garden will be!  lol  this is a lot of ifs and whens.

Looking forward to pints of raspberries like I did in the above picture!  yum.

I am pleased to have found the {Victoria (Australian) Agriculture} web pages.  It seems to be easy to use and is really detailed.  I havent found such a good website for vegetables and fruit before.  It could become my go to, for my veggies, as I find some other websites hard to navigate.

Have a good day!

12 comments:

Elaine said...

I hope all your 'sticks' grow and flourish! Your new home is out there somewhere, and when you find it I'll be singing and dancing with happiness for you. Anticipation and dreams are all part of the fun.

Sol said...

Hey Elaine, I hope they grow like mad!!! lol We will find something I am sure. We have to sell this place first, I hope that goes quickly.

Sue said...

Haha ... you have to have faith in the 'sticks' sometimes.

We planted lots of sticks pruned from our neighbours various fruit bushes and they pretty much all took and grew well last year. There was one that still looked like a stick so while we were chatting over the compost bin (like you do) I bent down and pulled it out with a flourish ready to add it to the compost and lo and behold it had a really good root system developing.

Your 'sticks' were a real bargain at just 20p :-)

Sol said...

Hi Sue, hope you are well. We have a little sun today here.

The sticks I had before just had a stump on. 2 years and then they are out, as no use to me!! lol I dont know how much these canes were supposed to be. But I seem to remember paying £15 for 5 canes before and thinking that was a bargain. So I dont think I did too bad. although I have read that Heritage were the first late cropping raspberries so their taste is not so great but the yeilds high. Against other late croppers like the raspberry all golds I bought a few years ago. I really like the taste of those.

Fingers crossed for bumper crops once we have moved

Sooze said...

Hello, you left a comment on my blog, thank you for that. We've got a couple of fruit bushes bought as sticks very cheaply from one of the pound shops 3 or 4 years ago, a blackcurrant and a blueberry, both thrived and give us lots of fruit. OH accidentally broke off a branch of the blackcurrant the year before last, he trimmed the end and dabbed it in rooting powder and just stuck it back in the ground - it rooted and grew well. So you may well be lucky!

Re your question about dog food....we also fed Betty on Wellbeloved for a while, she wasn't really that keen on it and was always looking round for more food. After doing a lot of research, we read that cheaper foods are the equivalent of 'McD's' and rely heavily on carbs with not a lot of protein content. And often the so-called 'meat' content may be 'animal derivatives' rather than good quality meat. This website https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory gives good information about foods. We now give Betty a complete dry food from these people https://www.millieswolfheart.co.uk/, they do various kinds of high protein foods, we got one of the 50% protein ones and she loves it. Higher protein means you can feed the dog less as it will keep them satisfied for longer, so although they aren't cheap, you use less of it. And we are happy knowing we're giving her good quality food. We also sometimes mix in a little cooked plain mashed sweet potato, or half a sardine canned in water (not brine), perhaps every other day, she licks the bowl clean! Hope this helps.

Sol said...

Hi Sooze, I hope they grow. We left nearly all of our soft fruits at our previous house along with all of our trees. I hope to start a really good soft fruit garden at the new house, so I can freeze and dry them for future dates. It is all so expense to buy.

Thanks for the name of the company for the dog food. I know puppies are normally hungry a lot of the time buy she is constant, even straight after food and he has eaten our other dogs food! I like the idea of the sardines that will give them some fatty acids and good amino acids. I dont want to think that they are not doing well as I havent tried harder.

northsider said...

It sounds like you have some great plans for your new garden Sol. Look forward to reading about your new house in Cornwall. Will you have a poly tunnel?

Sol said...

Hey Dave, I dont know yet what type of property we will buy. Whether it will have land or not. We have said if there is no land attached we will rent some or by some near by. Lets see what happens. there will at least be some green houses, my love of tomatoes and cucumbers is too high to not grow these in epic proportions. Hope you are well.

Debdor said...

Sorry, but you made me laugh so hard. I too have been known to spend a long time watering what turns out to be a stick - usually from the Poundshop...

Sol said...

Hi Debdor, my previous sticks came from wilkos. I look like a plank I am sure watering them. My neighbour said to me, have you put that stick in there to stop the dog from digging it, whilst your seeds grow. Nope I said, its a raspberry cane. Yep it was a stick! lmao. live and learn. Live and learn. Hope you are well.

Wendy McDonagh-Valentine said...

I grew up with raspberry bushes in my backyard. All these years later and they still remind me of my childhood. "Watering a stick" made me laugh out loud!!! : ) xo

~ Wendy
http://Crickleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

Sol said...

Hi Wendy, I do a lot of watering of sticks. There are 2 plants that I think the winter has killed off. I refuse to give up on them just yet. I will water them and put them in the green house and hope they come back. Hope you are well.