We're in a honey flow. Meaning, that despite the slow start, spring has sprung and is moving forward quickly despite the cold and rain. My garden looks terrible, but the wild blackberries are blooming prolifically, the honeysuckle and privet are just beginning.The bees are working hard now. If all goes well, I will get to harvest and make jelly out of this bumper crop of blackberries. Wouldn't it be nice to have so many wild blackberries that you didn't have to ration the jelly??
Love, love, love wild blackberries!!
7 comments:
I'm gonna give red raspberries a try. Had them as a kid and took 'em for granted. Now I miss them.
We have wild blackberries along the fence. I'd send ya some, but, well, they'll be eaten before I make it to a post office.
I can almost smell those blossoms. Good seeing them today. It's SO COLD! I haven't even started my garden yet.
Don't let Ange fool you. She's been building a horse fence and planting a small forest.
The trillium in the woods up here is about ready to flower -- should be a riot of three-petaled flowers by Mothers' Day, when the morels start popping.
The newest arrival on my property is poison ivy. The little darlings are just now unfurling their first tender leaves. Should be a bumper crop!
Where's my head?
I was going to ask how much honey your farm produces! I got all side-tracked by Ange claiming she hasn't started a garden yet.
Trees count!
Poison ivy is actually a wonderful bird plant once it is fully matured and has berries. Do you have trillium on your wooded area??
I agree trees count as gardening. Many times they are more difficult than the annuals. Give yourself credit!!
We had huckleberries, wild plums, and blackberries when I was young. You would be hard pressed to find huckleberries or wild plums in this area because of everyone's affinity for Round-up, but the blackberries are prolific. But we can never get enough.
Now that I think of it, I have one bag in the freezer. I think I will make homemade ice cream and a cobbler tomorrow.
A good bit.
Lucky you! My lilacs have taken bloom last week, and the aroma is intoxicating! I hope you are able to encourage some regrowth of the wild plants...a friend has been doing this on her farm and it is working well. I just got two blackberry plants this year, to try. (we've done raspberries for years.) The strawberries seem to like the pots on the porch, as they are starting to flower. Come on Spring!
Huckleberries - now there's a bush to grow. I LOVE them.
Nice pictures, but I can't help but worry about our own rather bee-less state here. I've seen perhaps 5 bees so far this spring. I've even taken to hand-pollinating the plums. Nice to know they're somewhere. It's not as if you can buy them in jars like you can ladybugs.
You can get a box of bees in the mail. You just have to build them a home. I got my first colony by mail. It is truly a cool thing to go to the post office, have the post person gingerly pass the bees over the counter, and then get into the car with what sounds like a gazillion bees.
Bees are some work, but worth it. I just put the second layer of honey supers on the hives yesterday!!
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