A week ago I noticed through the netting over the blueberries that some big blue berries were ready to be picked. I did just that and had a small handful of the biggest ones I have grown. A few had to be tasted right then but the rest made my breakfast special.
Yesterday morning early, I got in my golf cart and headed down to the raised beds to do some serious weed pulling. Using my hoe I got things stirred up around the blue lake green beans and the tomato plants. The green beans have promising white blooms on them and the tomato plants have golf ball size green tomatoes. I have staked them to try to keep the branches from falling to the ground. The stems on all of the plants, cucumbers included, are sturdy and healthy looking. As I started to drive back up to the house I glanced over at the blackberry patch and saw big black berries, so I just had to stop and pick them. The picture shows how long the biggest one was. I noticed that on the bush with the big ripe berries were some white blooms just starting the fruit process. That looked strange to me, but a lot of things in gardening are strange this year.
It has been many years since I have seen berries as big as these. I saw them on some bushes at the edge of the forest behind our home in Kentucky. We were all so impressed with the size of them and they were the wild berries. For my taste the wild ones are sweeter and the seeds are smaller, making them more desirable. But, I will take ripe blackberries any way I can get them. They are just wonderful with sugar and milk, in jam and jelly or just eaten out of hand.
Lady luck is with me so far this year in my garden. Having an early spring is preferable to having a late one. Especially when it brings rain to follow up the planting of seeds or plants. The figs are about half size on my biggest tree and marble size kiwi are hanging from healthy branches. It usually is the first of August before the figs are ripe, but with this head start it may be the first of July. The kiwi will not be ready for picking until the first frost this fall. I have to be very watchful around that time or I will find myself trying to fight harsh winds to collect these fruits.
There is one drawback to having an early spring. Does that mean an early fall and winter? Last year after a long dry summer with very little success in my garden, we were hit with a colder than usual December. So, it seems that something is pushing the seasons into earlier cycles. Since I have no control over Mother Nature, I will have to adjust. This spring at least, the adjusting has been very pleasant. It looks like I will be having enough from my harvest to put in my deep freeze. There is nothing that can compare to going to the deep freezer and picking a large bag of frozen blue lake green beans to cook for my family when they come up to visit on cold winter days.
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