Straight facts.

I am 1000% less of a mess when in the garden

I think we've had this discussion before about currants vs gooseberry and how currants were banned in the US (no longer federally but still by states)!

The berries in this photoset are Ribes uva-crispa, and are a member of the currant family, but I know them as gooseberry. I am also growing Ribes rubrum (red currant) and white currants which are actually a cultivar of Ribes rubrum . I posted a photo of the white currants in the VHC discord last night. Not brave enough to post it here as I expect all sorts of vulgar comments lol.

I have another currant plant, Ribes alpinum, which is not grown for its fruit and is more ornamental.

I hope I'm not coming off as rigid about naming! I think plant classification an naming (both common names and Latin names/taxonomy) is so fascinating. It's all arbitrary and made up 😂

Oh no! I've got a really small one at my desk that sits under shitty office lights and gets watered once a year or so and it's still chugging? The ones at home do much better. They get watered every month or so and get plant lights.

Excited screeching

RIP to a real one

Celery is underused as a main ingredient, love to see it.

(Let's bring back celery vases )

Oh hell yeah burgers

Wow! I've never seen that before. It looks promising!

Excellent advancement in the field of corn based taco pies

Looks so good, asparagus is GOAT

You are a genius

Hell yes I have

But thanks for the reminder that it exists 💖

Gardening can do that! I have to remind myself to have fun and there is so much I can't control.

This discussion was super interesting, so I took some more photos today and made a new post kind of comparing the two varieties here

All lentils all the time

If you want to stay organic I'd stay away from fish emulsion tho, too much nitrogen, unless you mix it with other organic soluble

Everyone should avoid fish emulsion.

As Hello_Kitty_enjoyer mentioned, it's not abnormal for these canes to be smaller at this point. You don't mention where you are located but I am assuming you've got a long way to go in the growing season, at least 2-3 months.

I'm sharing some photos of my raspberry bushes at different times to demonstrate. The images are in reverse chronological order. Currently, I've got new shoots coming up everywhere. It's wild. It can take a few years for them to become established so don't worry too much the first year they are in the ground.

Photo dump

Some varieties fruit on the primocane too, but it sounds like you know that they don't. Do you happen to know the variety you have? This will help you better understand what to expect. New growth comes from different places on different varieties. I grow two varieties that behave very differently and it's a little confusing to see them side by side to be honest!

If they are in the ground they will need less feeding than in a pot. When in a pot they are in an artificial environment and can't source the nutrients they need. I don't really have to feed my raspberries at all, but I might throw some alfalfa meal (nitrogen, to support green growth) or compost (grab bag!) at the base in the spring.

You shouldn't fertilize too close to the end of the season because you will be encouraging growth that might not get time to get hearty to the cold and will be damaged.

Good luck and have fun!

Yes! You can ferment the weeds. I tried that once and forgot about it and it was quite a disaster with the built up gas. Maybe I'll try again and put it somewhere I actually see it 😔

Amazing! I hope you share their growth and what you learn!

Surprised Pikachu face

I have a... considerable number of strawberry plants, well over 50.

Our gardening philosophy is pretty hands off. For us it's about cultivating joy, learning about the plants that share our space and sharing food with all the creatures. If the birds enjoy the berries, we are happy too. The strawberry plants are EVERYWHERE. If the fungus is regulating them, that's fine with us.

The apples were planted as 1m whips in spring 2022. They are probably 5 ft tall at this point.

We have some known cherry bushes, "Juliet" and "Crimson Passion" which were also planted spring 2022 but have less fruit than these other ones.

The raspberries are Nova Red and Heritage Red. Heritage red gives two harvest, the first in July. It's been a warm and early spring, but the plant is right on time with its normal cycle.

I hope the blackberries bring you joy.