I have, sitting on my deck, two gooseberry bushes ('Invicta', a relatively new English variety) and two blackcurrants ('Consort' and 'Crusader,' both products of a Canadian breeding programme, and both supposed to be best pollinated by 'Titania,' which I hope to add next spring). These, and a golden muscat grape, came from Rolling River Nursery, about which I am happy to say all the usual good things -- good service, good prices, lovely plants, and they are, charmingly, all organically grown. I would order from them again.
Gooseberries, for the record, are thorny as all hell, but they have very beautiful cranesbill geranium-like leaves. If I needed to plant a good thorny hedge someplace sunny, I would seriously consider the gooseberry.
The grape made it into the ground a couple of weeks ago -- I have a large obelisk trellis-y thing in the back yard, set in the centre of the raised beds in which we grow strawberries and tomatoes. After a couple years of flirting with notions of covering the obelisk with climbing roses and clematis, I broke down and got a grape. It seems to be settling in nicely and I hope for good things from it.
Last weekend was the planting of the tomatoes; we picked up 5 random plants at the farmers' market and I got them in promptly. I think we have one each of Big Boy, Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, German Queen, and Roma, but I now can't remember for sure. The Big Boy may actually be Better Boy, or maybe Early Girl. They are all tagged so I will be able to double check.
But The Plan this weekend was to get those berry bushes in the ground. Inspired to boldness by reading Edible Estates (and the slow realisation that sun is a valuable commodity on my property and I'm a damn fool to waste it) the berries are scheduled to go in the front, in a patch where we do indeed get good sun. There's a larger plan involving reshaping some existing beds, among other things, but that's not all going to happen this year.
The Plan was derailed by the absolute sodden-ness of the weather. I am not afraid of a little rain and mud, but there does come a point when the rain and mud win. Plus I can't find my waterproof Birkis (someone, possibly the dog, has hidden them) and I have not held out against the Croc fad this long to break down now. (Normally I'm not afraid of going barefoot, either, but we have nice sharp holly leaves among the ones that need raking. They hurt when you step on them).
So instead I knit a bit, played WoW a bit (my Tauren shaman earned enough battleground marks to get a Black War Wolf mount; now I just have to get her to 60 and come up with the cash so she can ride it), and sulked a bit at an iris which didn't open:
I think this is 'Babbling Brook' (lavender blue) though there's a chance it's 'Edith Wolford' (yellow standards and lavender blue falls). I planted these guys in 2004. The Viking and dog stomped them repeatedly in 2005 and 2006, so I moved them in the summer of 2007 to a place where perhaps they would suffer less. They seem to appreciate the change, and when you've been waiting 3-going-on-4 years to see something bloom, what's a couple more days?
A really long time, is what a couple more days are.
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