Blackberry Buds!

After some cool days and rain I checked out my Thornless Apache Blackberry Bush and was happy to see a number of buds on the plant!  I was a little bit surprised because I bought the plant in the fall and wasn't sure if the three canes on it were in their first or second year.  If they had been in their second year then I would have gotten no fruit this summer.  So it looks like I'll be getting some blackberries this summer!! Also the plant is taking off and already growing a nice new cane that will fruit next year!!!  

Blackberry Bush is growing!

The Thornless Apache Blackberry Bush I got last fall for $2 made it through the winter even though I didn't plant it. The leaves are starting to come out on the branches and it looks pretty healthy so far!

Finally got my Raspberry Plants!!!

I first pondered the idea if growing raspberries in my backyard last summer, however like all fruit plants, summer is not the time to plant or even find raspberry plants for planting. As fall arrived I kept my eye out for any plants on sale, all I found was some blueberry bushes and a blackberry plant (which I got an amazing deal on!). So as winter came to an end, abet very slowly here in the northeast, I once again began looking for raspberry plants, knowing that early spring is the best time to plant. I checked Lowes first but they only had 2 varieties, neither of which were Heritage variety. These two varieties were developed in Washington state and performed best with a gradual warm up in spring, something that is very rare here in CT! So I held off and decided to check other stores.
So I was ecstatic to see Home Depot had raspberry plants on sale. So I went hoping they would have red heritage variety and they did! So I got two red heritage variety raspberry plants. They had other varieties as well. The fall gold variety caught my eye and when I saw it was an ever bearing variety like the red heritage, I was sold! So I ended up with 2 fall gold raspberry plants as well!
Now I have 4 raspberry plants that should produce a fall crop this year and then a spring and fall crop every year!!! I can't wait to have some but first I have to find a good spot for them!