I know Root Rot when I see it...Tulameen succumbed yet again.

I had high hopes for my Raspberry patch of Tulameens...but the one thing I'm an expert at, is spotting root rot. This is the third planting of Tulameen Raspberries that I have had succumb to Root Rot. As soon as the Raspberry fruiting begins, the plants starts to turn brown and dry out, then the whole cane dies. Growth with no berries will look healthy. Don't be fooled. They may even make it to next year...then they begin to set fruit and the plant dying commences. So you might as well get rid of them and try something else. How sad are these pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

I have done some research into Root Rot Resistant Raspberries with the flavour and size of Tulameen Raspberries. I've come up with Cascade Delight. They should do much better. Allan picked up a Cascade Delight today at Dinter in Duncan today. It is already transplanted into a huge pot to be fed and spoiled to encourage lots of underground runners. It is even in the greenhouse for now. This is what the berries look like. Aren't they beautiful.

 

Trying this new coconut coir mulch

I saw some of this beautiful mulch on neighbour Judy's blueberries. She told me what and where, so I got a block of it today. I hydrated it in the wheelbarrow and spread it on the tomato bed. I will let you know how it works as a mulch compared to wood chips. Doesn't it look nice though.

It starts out like a small brick like this...About a foot square.

How odd is this cats behaviour? Meet MJ, Garden Cat in training.

 

As you know I lost my garden cat Beamer a few weeks ago. I miss him terribly. He had a beautiful little spirit. Then...almost immediately I noticed a little black cat that we had nicknamed MJ, following me around the garden. Within a couple days, she was rubbing against my legs. {But no petting or she will "cut you"} Now she is with me pretty much every time I am in the garden, following me and rolling in wood chips and loving the sun. She will go in and lie on the warm greenhouse floor and sleep...just like Beamer did. It is so weird I almost feel like Beamer is telling her what to do. She has been around for a few months but seemed very feral and scared. I did not know if she was homeless or being fed? Her fur was too long to tell if she was emaciated, so of course, we fed her just in case. We call her MJ which is short for Mini Jordan after our larger black cat. So everyone, meet MJ.

 

 

I did figure out that she actually has an owner so she is fed and cared for, but she is feral. They couldn't figure out why she wasn't eating as much lately. Oops.

The raised bed has been weeded and...Tomatoes are planted.

 

This lovely raised bed was so full of weeds and suckers, it took about a half hour to weed. My mom was here and she kept me company while I weeded. It was fun.

 

 

The apples are only about 1 1/2 inches across. They look so beautiful.

 

 

My sister has her potted Japanese Maples here at my house as well as this lovely peony. This is a little division of my mom's peony. Isn't it pretty.

Three Fruit Trees had to go.

It broke my heart but I had to remove three fruit trees. They were suckering so badly that it was sucking the life out of the garden. It was my two precious Japanese plums and the Rainier Cherry. I truly appreciated my Samurai pruning saw today. It cuts through tree trunks like butter!! I highly recommend it.

Here are the before photos

 

The During

 

 

 

 

 

My Samurai saw

 

 

And the after