Frost

I put a bunch of squash into the ground -- the bush ones (gold nugget, sweet mama, and uchiki kuri, plus Algonquin pumpkin), and Avi came up, so of course we had a real frost last night. I'd covered all the squash, the tomatoes in the greenhouse were half covered and seem fine, and the tomatoes right up against the south side of the greenhouse were uncovered but looked fine this morning.

When I went out this morning there was still ice on the outside of some of the coverings so I'll need to look a little later on, I wasn't about to uncover yet.

Almost time to put the cucumbers out, and the tomatoes etc on the deck, but obviously not quite yet!

Frost

I put a bunch of squash into the ground -- the bush ones (gold nugget, sweet mama, and uchiki kuri, plus Algonquin pumpkin), and Avi came up, so of course we had a real frost last night. I'd covered all the squash, the tomatoes in the greenhouse were half covered and seem fine, and the tomatoes right up against the south side of the greenhouse were uncovered but looked fine this morning.

When I went out this morning there was still ice on the outside of some of the coverings so I'll need to look a little later on, I wasn't about to uncover yet.

Almost time to put the cucumbers out, and the tomatoes etc on the deck, but obviously not quite yet!

Too Many Common Names

I've been listing my multivariety tests here, so. Haskaps (also called honeyberries or I think they have about a thousand other common names) are a pretty hardy berry in the honeysuckle family that was grown a little in Japan and Russia. A number of years ago the University of Saskatchewan and then a couple places in the states started breeding them, to alter the only moderately palatable berry and kind of inconvenient growth form into a potentially commercial berry.

They don't grow well where most people live -- my understanding is that in zone 8 or higher, maybe even zone 7, they perform poorly. But they are very happy campers up here, even surviving a couple years in 1 gallon containers through the winter. Their flowers are frost-resistant down to -7, so a late frost doesn't destroy the crop, and most of the berries are done by July. My observation is that hummingbirds love the yellow elongated bell-shaped flowers, and they do seem to bloom about when the hummingbirds come through.

They don't self-pollinate, so you need a couple, and they don't all bloom at the same time so if you get only a couple you need to be sure they bloom in the same window.

I got a couple haskap bushes awhile back, but this year I treated myself to some plugs of many varieties. They're going to end up in the west side of the pigpen. Here's what I have, with breeder. They're in plugs unless otherwise specified.

Haskap/honeyberry varieties:

Borealis (1 gal) (U Sask)
Tundra (1 gal) (U Sask)
Boreal Blizzard (U Sask)
Boreal Beast (U Sask)
Boreal Beauty (U Sask)
Blue Treasure (Berries Unlimited)
Aurora (U Sask)
Honey Bee (U Sask)
Blue Banana (Berries Unlimited)
Wojtek (Polish)
Giant's Heart (Berries Unlimited)
Strawberry Sensation (Berries Unlimited)
Zojka (Polish)
Kapu (Maxine Thompson)
Tana (Maxine Thompson)
Berry Blue (Russian)

Too Many Common Names

I've been listing my multivariety tests here, so. Haskaps (also called honeyberries or I think they have about a thousand other common names) are a pretty hardy berry in the honeysuckle family that was grown a little in Japan and Russia. A number of years ago the University of Saskatchewan and then a couple places in the states started breeding them, to alter the only moderately palatable berry and kind of inconvenient growth form into a potentially commercial berry.

They don't grow well where most people live -- my understanding is that in zone 8 or higher, maybe even zone 7, they perform poorly. But they are very happy campers up here, even surviving a couple years in 1 gallon containers through the winter. Their flowers are frost-resistant down to -7, so a late frost doesn't destroy the crop, and most of the berries are done by July. My observation is that hummingbirds love the yellow elongated bell-shaped flowers, and they do seem to bloom about when the hummingbirds come through.

They don't self-pollinate, so you need a couple, and they don't all bloom at the same time so if you get only a couple you need to be sure they bloom in the same window.

I got a couple haskap bushes awhile back, but this year I treated myself to some plugs of many varieties. They're going to end up in the west side of the pigpen. Here's what I have, with breeder. They're in plugs unless otherwise specified.

Haskap/honeyberry varieties:

Borealis (1 gal) (U Sask)
Tundra (1 gal) (U Sask)
Boreal Blizzard (U Sask)
Boreal Beast (U Sask)
Boreal Beauty (U Sask)
Blue Treasure (Berries Unlimited)
Aurora (U Sask)
Honey Bee (U Sask)
Blue Banana (Berries Unlimited)
Wojtek (Polish)
Giant's Heart (Berries Unlimited)
Strawberry Sensation (Berries Unlimited)
Zojka (Polish)
Kapu (Maxine Thompson)
Tana (Maxine Thompson)
Berry Blue (Russian)