Home Acre is buzzing with activity and NEW.FLOWERS.ARE.ON.THE.PLANTS!!
Imagine my surprise when I went out a few days ago and found about 50 percent of the newly transplanted/less than a year old plugs were BLOOMING.
Everything is growing like crazy, responding more favourably to Nature’s rain than my watering efforts (as always), and the plants really seem to appreciate our efforts at maintaining a clean orchard. I’ve spent countless hours in the past 20 days weeding between the plants themselves, and we’ve also run the cultivators (simple chain-type) between the rows and around the edges every 10 days (so twice thus far). I certainly don’t need to water.
Here is a photo of the Tundra Benchmark plant–it’s nearly SIXTEEN INCHES TALL. That’s four inches of growth and it’s BLOOMING!
The rest of the plants in the Home Acre are doing very well. I’ve perhaps marked 20 or so as ‘not expected to survive’ but every day I go out there, yet another one of those has a little leaf or a bud, showing me that they don’t intend to give in as quickly as I did! I’m now only counting perhaps 10 that are still without leaves or buds, and I expect the final count will be closer to 5. I did have one death due to vole (the voles are digging in the North edge, next to the slough), but I am surprised there aren’t more!
Today, it’s raining buckets (3 inches or 7 cm forecast over the next 4 days!), so I’m contenting myself with paperwork, book-keeping, and keeping Canada Revenue happy…I also picked a wheelbarrow full of rhubarb. I have five rhubarb plants, and I was able to freeze large freezer bags full, and make 10 cups of jelly. I love the colour of rhubarb jelly. I cannot wait to make my own Haskap jelly! In this batch of rhubarb jelly, I added a few sprigs of mint while it was steeping, and 1/4 cup of lemon juice, and a little sprinkle of nutmeg. I like to play with different things, and this batch is tasty. I cannot wait until it jells enough. Toasted homemade bread with rhubarb jelly is probably one of the most delightful foods. Fresh!
