Plants, gardening and growing things

↑ Rubber Ducky ↓

Tue, Sep 08 2009, 12:54 pm

DefyGravity, we put in only 3 stalks, they were given to us by a neighbor. Amazingly we got one ear per stalk despite ignoring the plants completely -- we did have a very wet spring here, which I'm sure helped.

Regarding orlah and berries... you may be confusing blueberries with raspberries.

Blueberries are bushes, but you motivated me to check my gardening books. Highbush varieties should be fine. But according to my Sunset Northeastern Garden Book, lowbush varieties are best pruned almost to the ground every few years to "rejuvenate plants" -- that would be a problem.

Raspberries are... different. They grow bienniel shoots (generally fruiting the second year), and the shoots can take root. You're supposed to prune back shoots after they've fruited. Cutting all the shoots back would result in a halachically new plant. And cutting newly rooted shoots back so that they're no longer connected to the mother plant would also appear to create new plants. Not sure what happens if you don't prune, or only cut back already fruited canes of older plants. Yeah, raspberries are a good shaila.

↑ solo

Tue, Sep 08 2009, 1:34 pm

I didnt realize that berries had the halacha of orla. somehow I thought it was for fruit trees in particular. and berries are neither fruit, nor trees.
I tried planting a blueberry bush this ur but was unsuccessful. I guess ill hafta ask before trying again.

↑ DefyGravity

Tue, Sep 08 2009, 1:38 pm

Rubber Ducky wrote:

Regarding orlah and berries... you may be confusing blueberries with raspberries.

DH asked a couple different Rabbis about it. He did some research, but I'll definitely tell him what you told me as he was really sad that he couldn't grow blueberries.

Happy Mom ↓

Sun, Sep 13 2009, 10:23 pm

Oooh, what a fun thread! I love gardening - it's so relaxing!

I started gardening just a little over a year ago, but here's what we are growing/grew this year:
- strawberries
- raspberries
- blueberries
- blackberries
- lettuce
- snow peas
- snap peas
- beets
- onions
- spinach
- Swiss chard
- cucumbers (3 kinds)
- tomatoes (cherry tomatoes, golden Asian pear tomatoes, black cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, and a bunch of regular standard tomatoes)
- watermelon
- cantaloupe
- butternut squash
- acorn squash
- spaghetti squash
- pumpkin
- green beans
- yellow crookneck squash
- zucchini
- oregano
- sage
- a couple of potato plants (came up from the compost on their own)
- fennel
- mint
- dill
- did carrots last year but didn't bother with them this year

Now everything is pretty much finished and I'm putting in the fall/winter seeds. I'm getting a late start so I'll see what we end up getting. I'm putting in rainbow and Argentata swiss chard, spinach, mache, a couple of kinds of lettuce, lots of snow peas. I also got seeds for rutabagas, turnips (2 varieties), and a couple of kinds of beets. But I'm pretty busy and it's so late already that I don't think I'll plant the seeds for the root vegetables. I specifically ordered greens that can overwinter in my climate.

I don't have a big yard at all, but it's amazing how you can find room when you want to!

↑ Happy Mom ↓

Tue, Sep 15 2009, 9:52 pm

When I started last year I built some raised beds to go next to part of the fence so it wouldn't take up any play area. Those are two feet deep; three are about 10- 12 feet long, one is about 20+ feet long.

Then this year I wanted to expand so I cleared part of the yard in the back where we had a basketball hoop. That area is probably about 20' wide x 30' long. And now this last couple of weeks, I built four more raised beds to go in the part of the yard where my other raised beds are - they're each 3' x 9'. So next year I'll hopefully be able to grow larger quantities with that. I planted the blueberry bushes along the side yard between me and my neighbor, and a couple of raspberry plants on the other side between me and another neighbor.

I did this after realizing that my kids played mostly in the front and side yard, and we have a patio in the back where they can also play. So it wasn't a big loss for them when I turned what I used to think of as their play area into garden space. The kids love being able to go through the garden paths and pick and eat whatever they want. My 2 and 3 year olds did this every time they went out - constantly snacking on whatever they could pick! So I think the kids ended up benefitting more from me using it for planting than by keeping it as it was. Very Happy

↑ Happy Mom

Tue, Sep 15 2009, 9:57 pm

Oh, forgot to answer the second question. embarrassed

No, I'm not doing anything special to extend the growing season. Unless you count buying seeds that are hardy in cold weather. Maybe eventually I'll make cold frames, but right now that's not a priority so it's not happening.