I Cannot Tell a Lie

What an awesome day today. Just beautiful. It's been raining all week -- stopping yesterday around 5pm to give the twilight hours an amazing pink light off the bright spring green leaves. Today was even better. Probably around 65 degrees... sunny yet a bit chilly, a bit warm. Went to Ken's game early this morning -- brought a giant mocha in a thermos and stopped at Crema on the way to pick up a cherry-apricot muffin & a piece of chocolate espresso bread (tastes like cake and apparently I couldn't get enough mocha this morning). Ken's flag football game was good, although they needed a quarterback... badly. I think they lost 31 to 6 or so. Ken had a great defensive play -- full lay out to block a pass. I was impressed. Didn't eat but a bite of the bread (silly caffeine being an appetite suppressant), so ken ate the rest.

After the game, we went looking for that plant sale. Deb (from work) wrote down an address at the bottom of an article she gave me. We went to the address finding out it was a plant sale, but not the $3 one that we expected (should have just read our own blog). Not feeling like driving more and since the proceeds went to a women's shelter (rather than pet neutering), we decided to stay and shop.

And shop we did.

Oh my goodness we had such a fun time. 3 blueberry bushes (see descriptions below for those interested; Sara Burke, you inspired us), 12 strawberry plants (4 Hood River varieties) and Ken's new best "friend", a 4-foot bare root Bing cherry tree (FOR $5 DOLLARS!!!). We couldn't believe it. The whole bill cost $35. I still can't believe we could buy any fruit tree for $5. Choices included: apple, nectarine, peach (dwarf or regular), walnut, or couple kinds of cherry (there was a whole wall of them; I'm sure I'm missing one or two).

Dropped off our friends at home and hit up Fred Meyer (as Rob Church calls it "your local everything"). They were having some sales:

1. Buy two hanging baskets, get one free
2. Buy any pot(s) and any plant(s) and we'll pot them for you with free "Black Gold" potting soil (a promotion today)
3. All geraniums are 50 cents.
4. On top of whatever you buy, get 10% off.

We have an awesome new porch but no flowers. Whenever I see such porches, I think immediately of the south and their beautiful hanging baskets filled with draping flowers. So off we went.

4 hanging baskets later (filled with plants of our choice that were potted for us) and six varieties of tomatoes for the backyard (We picked two varieties each; Lisa: Roma and Yellow Pear; Ken: Big Boy and a variety that produces clusters of cherry tomatoes). The last two are a patio variety best suited for containers -- planted those in the urns we bought for our wedding (which are now on the back porch filled with tomatoes and petunias that will soon be draping over the sides). It was a fun day.

When we got home, we immediately hung the hanging baskets on the front porch and then went to planting everything in the backyard. Now it's finished and it looks amazing. I made myself a martini out of a honey tangerine I bought at the grocery store (by the way they are an awesome variety; I highly recommend them for juice) and then sat out on the porch with Hughes. Man, that porch is cozy now. It feels so great to sit on that rocking chair with my martini, some candles... reading the paper and drinking a martini (hence the chattiness above).

Life is good.

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Plant Descriptions:
DUKE BLUEBERRY -- The Duke variety is an early season plant, (July 1 - July 21), which produces large, firm, medium blue fruit. They are in open clusters with small scars. The Fruit has a mild and crisp flavor. They are upright, vigorous, and a heavy productive plant. Duke has become a very popular variety as of late due to its heavy production and concentrated ripening. It is an excellent variety for machine harvesting. The fruit quality is suitable for fresh of processing markets.

ELLIOTT BLUEBERRY -- Bears more fruit at an earlier age than other varieties.
These native American varieties ripen in July and the harvest goes on for weeks. (You need two kinds for cross-pollination, three being even better.) The 5-6' tall bushes become a blaze of crimson in the fall, so they are ideal arranged as an informal hedge. Set plants 4-8' apart and make sure the soil is acid. You'll have fresh blueberries for pies and preserves for many, many years. We ship large 2 yr., 12-18" bare root plants. Zones 4-8. Bears more fruit at an earlier age than other varieties. Large, firm fruits with delicious sweet flavor. Vigorous plants.

JERSEY BLUEBERRY (aka HIGHBUSH, the producer of the state fruit of New Jersey)
(OK, we had a hard time picking this one due to some prejudice against the garden state... Case in point, take the joke I heard two weeks ago from Randy, my beloved father-in-law: "Q:Why are New Yorker's so sad? A: Because the light at the end of the tunnel is New Jersey". We decided on this one because the fruit is supposed to be great, per one of the volunteers working who bought two bushes himself. Description reads: Big Crops, Really Big Berries! Medium-blue fruit so large and juicy, you'll have a hard time getting it to the table. Plump berries seem to disappear just as fast as you pick them! Fine for freezing, too. Ripens in late July. 12- 18-inch plants. Zones 3-8.