Raspberry Farming

A friend of mine at work, Bonnie, and I have quite the affinity for fruit.  We realized last summer we were both visiting Lynd's for their fruit goodies on a regular basis and struck up regular conversations about fruit and gardening.  Even though Eric and I took on starting our own mini-orchard at mom and dads a couple years back, we know they can be fickle and slow growing, so we're always looking for new opportunities.

Bonnie popped by the other day at work and mentioned she had some volunteer raspberry plants coming up and mentioned getting rid of them--NO WAY!  "We'll take them!"

I started researching growing raspberries and dreaming of the possibilities.  Within hours I was sending Eric grower's tips (at work) and planning the perfect spot for our garden.

Within a day or two, Bonnie had brought in our lovely plant--such a bright start to my day!  She said they will bloom in May or June, then again in fall--what a treat!  I decided to get a few more plants (one of the greenhouse ladies I talked to said it was best to have a few pollinators around) so I got three and some organic, acidic fertilizer (though, we heard composting is great for raspberries, and plan to start that this summer also).

So, last night we brought our 4 new plants home--dad and Eric created the bed (Amara and Jackson supervised) and within an hour we had our new tiny bed all ready.  Eric still needs to build some supports for them, but I can't wait to see if we have some berries this year!

Goes to show, a crazy fluke conversation can start a new tradition and summer project for us!  3 Latham Raspberry plants from Lowe's to add to the one Heritage from Bonnie, fertilized with Hollysomething ....and blood meal, yum.