Fruit!

Gardening week is running into it's second week now, since there is still so much to tell you about!  We've worked harder this year than ever before on trying to make our yard and gardens look amazing, and I want to make sure that I cover it all.

So now it's time to talk about fruit.  Last year we purchased 50 strawberry plants and 3 blueberry bushes. 

 Our strawberry plants, covered in - you guessed it! - straw

DH ate the first 4 strawberries of the season yesterday and he said that were the best berries that he's ever eaten in his life.  Maybe they were really that good, or maybe he was just starving, but either way, I'm glad that they were tasty!  I don't eat strawberries (when I was younger they used to give me hives, so I avoid them now, just to be safe) but I loved planting them and watching them grow. 

But they look awesome!

 
Strawberries are wildly satisfying to plant, because you plant them in the spring and by late summer you have twice as many plants.  They're a lot of work and need a lot of love, but for some reason I don't mind that, because they're so pretty and productive.  After 3 full months of pinching off all of the flowers last year (you're supposed to pinch them off so that the new plant spends it's energy on growing strong, instead of producing fruit.  Apparently producing fruit can be exhausting for a plant.)  I like plants that produce noticeable results relatively quickly, so if you're like me, I highly recommend strawberry plants.

Blueberry plants, on the other hand, require a lot more patience.  We ordered 3 blueberry plants last year and I'm going to say that we'll get 10, maybe 15 blueberries from those 3 plants.

If the birds and bugs don't eat them first.... 

One of our 3 plants from last year was fairly well destroyed by the snow this winter, and although he's now showing some signs of bouncing back, we decided that we needed to invest in a few more blueberry plants.  This worked out well, since we had decided to purchase some for my mom for mother's day since the plants she had purchased the year before didn't seem to be doing too well either. 

Can you see 6 plants in there?  No? Well, that's why I'm saying blueberry plants aren't very fun if you're into quick growing things... 

So now we have this beautiful blueberry garden.  In a couple of years those plants that you can't even see will be enormous 6 foot high hedges FULL of blueberries!  And that means that this plant....

... will have more than one measly berry on it.  Are you excited?!?! I sure am!!!