Cranberries in the Garden

As I was baking cranberry bread yesterday, I remembered an interview I did  with Wil Kiendzior and his wife Louisa Sapienza about their cranberry beds. Cranberries are another perennial crop that can be added to your edible garden.

Wil Kiendzior started gardening when two things converged in his life.  His two daughters were born and he started teaching high school courses on ecology and the environment, using Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring as a text. His first gardens grew out of his concern about the dangers of chemical pesticides and herbicides, and concern for his daughters’ health and safety.

His daughters grew up and the gardens continue to grow.  Since his retirement last year from the Mohawk Trail Regional High School, where he taught environmental science courses for 33 years, he has spent a lot of time expanding his Buckland gardens.

Kiendzior and his wife Louisa Sapienza, whom he married in 2002, are trying to become as self sufficient in food as possible. In addition to the vegetable gardens which include such perennials as horseradish, rhubarb, comfrey and other herbs, Kiendzior and Sapienza have planted fruit trees, raspberries, blueberries. They have a sunroom which acts as a greenhouse where they can grow greens through the winter, and start seedling in the spring. They also keep bees and harvest honey.

Sapienza said they are always working on soil building, liming the soil, digging in compost, manure, greensand and rock phosphate.

About six years ago, Sapienza, who loves cranberries, saw them listed in a catalog and suggested they grow some. Kiendzior was skeptical, but thinking about the benefits of another food crop and her enthusiasm he finally agreed.

It was a surprise to me to learn that it does not take a wet bog to grow cranberries.  In fact, they do not like saturated conditions, requiring just about as much water as any vegetable garden. What they do demand is full sunlight, and peaty, acid soil with lots of organic matter.

Kiendzior understood that perennial crops like cranberries need good soil preparation. He said he dug in lots and lots of peat moss, sand and fertilizers.

The official recommendation for 8 plants is a bed that is four feet wide and 8 feet long, allowing sufficient room for the cranberries to send out runners. The bed is prepared by digging out six inches of the soil and replacing it with a mixture of equal amounts of peat moss and sand. As you make this mixture of sand and peat moss you have to keep watering the peat moss which absorbs water very slowly. Patience is a necessity.

To the peat and sand add two cups each of bonemeal, blood meal, Epsom salts and rock phosphate and mix in well.  These will provide the essential nutritional requirements potassium and phosphorous.

Kiendzior’s first bed was a large block, about ten feet square.  It has filled out so it is totally covered with productive plants, but he quickly decided that additional plants would be planted in rows that would be easier to care for.

The root ball of the young plant should be placed slightly deeper that the soil surface. Like any newly planted seedling, the cranberry bed should be well watered after planting and throughout the summer. Peat moss needs to be kept moist to the touch.

Cranberries like nitrogen and should be fertilized with fish emulsion during the growing season.  Keep the beds weeded.

Each plant will begin to send out runners so the plants form a mat.  After two years the bed should be sanded, that is sprinkled with a half inch of clean sand in early spring before new growth begins. This encourages the production of upright berry bearing branches.  Sanding should be done every three years to rejuvenate the plants and control disease and pests.

After three years the runners can be trimmed back and the older uprights pruned back to keep the plants productive.

Once the plants are four years old they will start to bear. Cranberries should be harvested by hand before there is the threat of a killing frost, usually in late September when the fruit is a deep red.

Cranberries are a hardy evergreen but they must be protected from the cold. They should be covered with a mulch of pine needles or leaves.  You can even cover them with a rowcover or sheet of opaque white plastic and then layer on the mulch.  Don’t remove the mulch until the spring when there is no danger of frost.

I was interested to see that the Cranberry Experiment Station in East Wareham suggests putting mousebait under the mulch to prevent rodents from making a cozy nest and destroying the plants over the winter.

For people like Kiendzior and Sapienza who want to feed themselves through a long winter, cranberries are an ideal crop.  First they are extremely nutritious. They are full of vitamin C and other antioxidants.

Second they can be bagged up and thrown in the freezer with no processing.  They will also keep for a very long time right in the refrigerator.

And finally, this native berry is  delicious. Sapienza cooks them up with a little water, brings them to a boil and cooks them for a couple of minutes until they pop.  Off the stove she adds a little maple syrup to sweeten them and chopped up orange, or pineapple. “I have them as a breakfast fruit, or a snack, or with dinner. I love them anytime,” she said.

Cranberries do not need cross pollination but Ben Lear is an early variety with large burgundy berries, Stevens is a mid-season berry with large red berries and Howes is a late season variety with small red berries.

Sources: Cranberry Creations, www.cranberrycreations.com;  Fedco Seeds  www.fedcoseeds.com; Gurney’s Nursery, PO Box 4178, Greendale, IN 47025-4178, www.gurneys.com; Miller Nurseries, 5060 West Lake Rd, Canandaigua, NY, 14424-8904 www.millernurseries.com.

Cranberry Bread

Between the Rows  May 24, 2008

Cindy’s Mosaics

Shelburne Mosaic

Saturday was a big day in Shelburne Falls, home of the Bridge of Flowers. There had been events at the Buckland Shelburne Community Hall for Cider Day but there was also a dedication of the 12 vitreous glass mosaics created by Cynthia Fisher of Big Bang Mosaics in cooperation with students from the elementary and high schools, as well as members of the community. Ten of the 3 x 3 foot mosaics depict iconographic aspects of the ten towns in our area. Two slightly larger mosaics honor the Native Americans who lived here, and the Deerfield River which tumbles over Salmon Falls in the middle of the town.

Cindy and Jayden of BSE school

Three towns supplied the full amount of requested funding and so as the students worked on the main mosaic they  also made a smaller one that will remain in the school. The Buckland Shelburne School was presented with their mosaic at the dedication. The sturdy frames that hold the mosaics were designed and fabricated by the students at Franklin Technical High School.

Ideas for each mosaic were generated by the third graders in each town. With students’ help Cindy drew the template and then older students during art classses cut (nipped) the glass tiles and glued them in place.  Heath is famous for its lowbush blueberries, the acres of sunflowers being grown for fuel to run farm machinery, historic farms, and, of course, the Heath Fair. We have a drawerful of Heath Fair t-shirts, a different design each year.

You can see all the mosaics, and learn more about the project by clicking here.

That’s my Three for Thursday.  Check out Cindy MCOK at My Corner of Katy and see what other trios abound.

Robert Dane Loves the Blues

Robert Dane's Blueberry Bud Vases

Bob Dane loves the blueberries Heath is famous for. He also loves the blueberry fields where they are grown which is why he has donated these sweet blueberry bud vases to the Franklin Land Trust to use as a gift for all those who donate $250 or more to the FLT and ear mark that gift “The Benson Place” to support the Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR)  and trail easement that has been awarded to the Benson Place Blueberry Farm in Heath. These covenants will ensure farming and passive recreation on that land for years to come.

Robert Dane's Tutti Frutti Goblets

Heath is famous for blueberries, and Bob is famous for his blown glass. His tutti frutti goblets, beautiful and whimsical, are one of his trademarks.  He sells his work, and that of the country’s most noted glass artists at the Dane Gallery on Nantucket. Hillary Clinton has shopped at the Gallery when visiting Nantucket!  His wife Jayne, is co-owner and Director of the Gallery.

But Bob is not  only an amazing  and skilled artist, and supporter of land preservation (he is on the Board of the FLT) he is a gardener! His tiny vegetable garden is right outside the back door adjacent to the stone terrace.  He needs to keep it small because of his work schedule.  It contains winter squash, kale and beets that he doesn’t have to worry about until late in the season.  On the other hand, his second planting of arugula is coming along nicely and he continues to enjoy stuffed zucchini blossoms – as well as the zucchini squash. Bob is a great cook, too.

Tiny thyme

All of us in Heath have a good time in the summer, but we can feel we are on a tight schedule. Time is always an issue.  However, Bob says he has “‘lots of thyme.” Between the stone pavers on the terrace he has wooly thyme, creeping thyme, tiny thyme and regular common thyme. I’ve been feeling the need for more time, but Bob has shown me how to have more thyme.  Thanks, Bob.

A Berry Blue Summer

Blueberries on the bush

Netting the blueberries was the big garden task of the weekend.  Between the heat, the thunderstorms, adventures with visiting grandson Tynan, picking raspberries and preparing to host the  Heath Gourmet Club on Saturday night, this job kept getting postponed. Finally, on Sunday, with the sun shining and a deliciously cool breeze blowing, we set to. The berries are just starting to  ripen here at the End of the Road, but the birds are starting to circle.

We planted our blueberry bushes at least 27 years ago. For many years we just threw nets over them to keep the birds away, but we finally got smart and built a PVC pipe cage. The cage covers the five bushes that are planted in a straight line. If we had thought of the necessity and practicality of a netted cage we would have planted the bushes in a block.

Black plastic netting goes over the pipe supports and is tied in place with twistees.  In the photo above you can see that two large bushes live outside the cage, providing a few early berries for us, and many berries for the birds. I may not supply the birds with sunflower and thistle seeds, but I do provide a good supply of blueberries.

The netted berries supply us with a long season of freshly picked berries that do not have to be picked daily the way raspberries do. They are the most considerate of berries, hanging on the bush for days without rotting or spoiling. In fact they are considerate of the gardener’s labor as well.  Once these bushes were planted in our naturally acid soil, they have not needed any other care.  I occasionally cut out small dead branches; that is the only pruning required.

I pick my blueberries at my leisure and enjoy the these healthiest of fruits in the summer, and through the winter, pulling bags of them out of the freezer. At my leisure.

Late Boys, Early Raspberries and Runaways

Drew and Anthony in the raspberries

All week we had been waiting for our daughter Kate and her family to arrive. We knew they had been at her husband’s family reunion at a state park in NY, celebrating his parents 80th and 90th birthday – and their 60th wedding anniversary. I expected them to arrive mid-week, but there was no word. We called Kate’s cell phone. We sent emails. We sent Facebook messages. No word. No word. No word. Had they been carjacked? We did internet research and found phone numbers for two of Greg’s sisters.  We called. We left messages. Finally, we heard. They stayed in the park (no Internet in the park!) camping after the official Sunday party, visiting and enjoying the park and the family.  And learning that Greg’s very proper parents had more than a whirlwind courtship. They met on a group date, went out together twice more before they had to part to their respective, distant homes. They corresponded and arranged a wedding that took place six weeks later.  Those mad romantic fools!

Drew and Anthony

Kate, Greg, Anthony and Drew finally arrived on the Fourth of July. A whirl to measure them on the door – and learn that Drew grew 7 inches in the last year and is now just a mite taller than his brother! Then off to a Mohawk Trails Concert with classical music, Broadway music – and Small Change joined by famous jazz French hornist (and Heathan) John Clark playing their special music. I don’t know how to classify it, but the boys, and we, had a great time!

Once home we sent the boys off to pick raspberries. Usually when they are here they pick blueberries, but the raspberries are early this year. You can see I really need to thin the raspberries better. Thinning and pruning sufficiently are two of my weaknesses. I find it so hard to cut back when the plants have been successful and grown vigorously. We had those raspberries on ice cream in the Cottage Ornee after supper. The evening was cooling down and the Cottage caught the breeze. The ice cream was still really good after a hot Fourth.

As we walked from the raspberry patch to the house the boys noticed a runaway rose.  This rose has not runaway into the field from it’s nearest neighbor, but from . . .  ?  It looks like one of the Farm Girls who grow some distance away. Did a bird spread the seed?

I used to think this was an apothecary rose, but now I am doubtful. Whatever it is, it is thriving in a very wet spot and spreading by root into the adjoining field.

The roses Terri Pettingill gave me from her mother’s house in Maine have never really thrived here, but this  one is sending roots out into the field as well.  Controlling roses is trickier than I ever thought it would be, and sometimes it requires a ruthlessness I have not been able to muster.

A Winter Walk Makes a Promise

Highbush cranberry berries

There is very little color out in the snowy garden. These last scarlet berries on the highbush cranberry (a native plant)  are a dramatic exclamation.

Seedcase of the tree peony

I guess I didn’t do all the necessary dead heading last summer. This seedcase was left on a tree peony, a remnant of the last season.  But look . . .

Tree peony buds

could these be buds on that same tree peony? A promise of the new season?

Lilac buds

The lilac buds are beginning to swell and shade to green.

Rhodendron buds

The buds on the Boule de Neige rhododendron leave no doubt that spring is coming.  Only 29 more days to go.

My Berry Bowl

Yesterday Elizabeth Licata at Garden Rant wrote about Tovah Martin’s new book, The New Terrarium. I haven’t ever made a terrarium but at least three and possibly four years ago a dear friend gave me a berry bowl for Christmas.  Elizabeth’s post reminded me that I hadn’t seen it for a while.  I went to look.

The berry bowl, planted with moss and partridgeberry (?) has always lived in our Great Room. It is usually not heated in the winter. Last  winter, because of new insulation, it actually got below freezing. At one point I must have moved the berry bowl from the shelves where it could be seen and enjoyed, to a corner of the shelf, hidden by pitchers and forgotten. The plastic wrap ‘lid’ was seriously dusty, but the plants thrived.

I’ve never opened the berry bowl, and never watered it. Having found it in the shadows, I set it on the kitchen table where it could get some sun and feel a little love. It was not long before I could see moisture condensing on the inside of the bowl, so I moved it out of the sun where it  could feel loved, but not so hot.

My berry bowl shows that it doesn’t take much, or maybe nothing but benign neglect, to keep a terrarium going. Still, I am going to get The New Terrarium Book because Tovah Martin says terrariums are a perfect place to grow orchids. I’d like to try that.

Wedding and Work

Mr. and Mrs. Jay Larson and party

First I have to say the very most important event of the past week was the wedding of my cousin Jay  and his beloved Juliet in a beautiful garden in Manchester by the Sea. It was a glorious day and celebration was in  the air. Our hotel was hosting three wedding receptions and packed to the rafters with SEVEN groups of wedding guests.

Juliet is a Nanny in the classic mode. The wedding guest list was filled with her charges and their families, past and present which made for an amazing extended family of not only blood relatives, but the families who have exchanged love and respect with Juliet over a period of years.

The beautiful white garden in which they exchanged their vows, and celebrated into the night was owned by the family of former charges, and designed by the mother, Robin Kramer, who is now a garden designer. Juliet and Jay could begin their married life in no more perfect setting than this welcoming garden.

While we were off celebrating, son Chris and son-in-law Gerry once again set to and spent the weekend continuing to paint our house.  The weather did not cooperate and they did not finish, but the potted plants already appreciate being set off by a fresh white wall, instead of one peeling and gray.

Most of my work in the garden centered around the work in progress – the daylily bank.  Diane and her son made a start on digging and desodding during the rafting weekend.  I continued digging and fertilizing, and began the fun part, planting daylilies. Several came from Lorraine Brennan’s daylily sale including: Crimson Pirate, Lemon Yellow, Barbara Mitchell, and Hall’s Pink. My husband gave me Ice Capades, Ann Warner, Happy Returns and Rosy Returns. I dug up Hyperion and a red daylily that Elsa Bakalar gave me many years ago from other spots my own garden. I don’t think I will fill the bank this fall, but it shouldn’t take much more work in the spring.

The purpose of the bank is to eliminate the need for grass mowing.  Somehow I had not expected the pleasure I would have in seeing the blooming bank from my place at the dinner table three times a day. A reminder to always consider what  garden views will please from the window.

Also notice the shining white of our house!

High bush blueberries

I guess I was busy enough, and the freezer was full enough of the low bush blueberries the grandsons picked, that I stopped noticing our own high bush blueberries.  The time has come to notice and to start picking. I had my own blueberries on my breakfast cereal.

Sugar Snap Peas

Amazingly, the second planting of sugar snap peas is still bearing, and still sweet.  We had them in our salads all last week, and will again this week.

We have also been eating these pole beans, green and yellow, from Renee’s Garden for a week and the time has come to pick and get some in the freezer.

Berries Jubilee

Summer blues are nothing to weep about.  The low bush blueberries are ripening on Burnt Hill. Anthony, Drew and I went picking over at the Benson Place. You can see forever on that hill, even the spires of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

We picked and picked. For about 15 minutes.  That’s as long as it takes two energetic boys with the efficiently designed blueberry rake to pick about 20 pounds of berries, along with a few sticks, leaves and weeds.

I confess!  We did not pick all these blues ourselves. It is inevitable that you will make a friend in the blueberry field. We shared the cart with two women who had been picking for nearly 2 hours! Hot work. Don’t you wish you had a friend who would pick blueberries for you?

At the barn we did our own sorting on  the converyor belt but my photo didn’t turn out. A farm worker put the berries SSS-LOOOOW-LLY in the hopper. Green berries and sticks and leaves fell through a kind of grate and then we pulled out green or squished berries that escaped the grate. We ended up with nearly 19 pounds of blueberries.

Tonight we are going to have blueberry crisp for dessert. Blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, blueberry pie and blueberries on cereal are all in our  future. And to think that blueberries are a Super Food.  All those anti-oxidents. Delicious and super healthy.

It’s the Berries

The raspberries are coming in. I wish I had put up a better trellis. Picking the berries requires some maneuvering. I have learned my lesson. Next year I will have a better trellis and I will have the berries thinned out, for their benefit and mine. I don’t have to wait for next year to have delicious berries. You can see that I’m in the process of making jam, but really, one of the benefits is that I can just pop them in the freezer. No work at all.