Wandering Raspberry Patch (Patreon)
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Today is Friday, April 14th, and I am walking my cat on her leash around the yard. Literally, right now, as I write this, I’m typing with my right hand on my phone while the loop of her leash is hanging on my left wrist.
But that’s not what this post is about.
This post is about what I found in the newest grow box that Matt built for me and I sowed with sugar snap pea seeds several weeks ago.
Computer, enhance:
That, my friends, is not a sugar snap pea sprout.
That is a raspberry shoot.
The previous tenants left us a nice, orderly little raspberry patch when we moved in ten years ago. I did not know this then, but raspberries roam.
It’s been fascinating to watch their progression as they march across the yard, erupting from the ground in a very specific patch and going to fruit while stealthily sending out underground scout shoots to find next year's location.
NOTE TO FUTURE ERIKA: Draw a diagram of the Great Raspberry Migration and insert it here:
THANK YOU, FUTURE ERIKA.
Last year they colonized the first sugar snap pea box (#3) and the results were just beautiful; bright red berries nestled against plump green pea pods with their little twisty green tendrils snaking around wooden stalks with delicate hair-like thorns. I’d go out in the morning to collect fistfuls of raspberries and pea pods, filling my bowl with the two mixed together.
Unfortunately, the lettuce box (#4) next door did not find a similar harmonious balance, as the raspberry stalks shot up high above my short baby lettuces and, I assume, hogged all the sunlight and soil nutrients because those ground level fledglings all withered away while the intruders thrived. It’s ok, I like raspberries more than lettuce anyway.
I'm excited for this year's round of raspberries. I'm excited to find the first rogue raspberry shoot in the newest grow box Matt built for me (#5). I'm excited to see where these fuckers continue to travel. I'm excited to many more years of backyard raspberries.
I'm excited to share it with you :3