Sunday, May 6, 2012

You're Berry Welcome to Dream

I have a Berry Binder. What's that? Essentially, it's my garden journal. Countless times, I have walked through gift stores and wondered why anyone would need a garden journal. Now I understand.

Early in the year, I searched the Iowa State University Extension Office website for any information that would help me turn the 200' x 50' plot of land into an enchanting garden. I found helpful articles about what would grow best in our black, yet sandy, soil. Sheets and sheets of information were printed off until my husband and I settled on our three main crops: raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries.

I keep these printouts in a red three-ring binder, along with seed catalog order receipts, a detailed account of every thing I do with our berries, results of self-conducted soil sample tests, and drawings of where certain varieties were planted. Should we luck out and have all sixty-five raspberries bushes thrive, then I want to remember exactly what I did to help that along. The same goes for the thirty-six blueberry bushes and 150 strawberry plants. I'm certain that one day I'll want to look back and see how many pounds of soil acidifier I worked into the blueberry patch, and, should that happen, I'll have the exact information at my finger tips...in the Berry Binder.

Layout of blueberry varieties
pH test shows need for acidity

3-15    Plowed up strawberry garden 
3-39    Added 15 lbs soil acidifier to prepare soil for blueberries
4-05    Added grass clippings as a mulch to raspberries
5-05    Spread chicken manure on the ever-bearing strawberries  


In a few years, my husband and I expect to have a very beautiful berry garden full of yummy fruits and beautiful flowers. It will be a peaceful getaway for visitors who want to enjoy a serene backdrop of grazing horses, sun-bathing hens, and happy song birds. And somewhere along the line, I am certain that somebody will ask me how they can get something like this started. When that happens, I will walk into my little garden shed and return with a gift for them - their own Berry Binder - empty, of course, so they can create their very own dream.

Wishing you the berry best,

Sharon





8 comments:

  1. A journal definitely makes sense. I couldn't imagine trying to remember all of the details, no matter how hard I tried :) Do you live in Iowa? We moved to PHX from Des Moines a few years ago.

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    1. Andrea, I am from Iowa, yes. As far as remembering details, I seem to need more and more notes the older I get. LOL

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  2. Hi I am your newest follower love your sight I have a homestead binder with a barnyard section (just chickens right now) and a garden section. We are really small scale at this point but I have lots of dreams. Oh and I was the same about garden journals but I am a definite convert now, love my binder!

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    1. Cheryl, I followed your blog as well. Who'd have thought we'd run into each? When I read that you were watching your soil pH too, I had to laugh. See you around!

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  3. Wow, you're a true botanist and I love the idea of the binder journal to keep track of all your seedlings. We're trying gardening, too. We'll see how well we do...whether we have a 'green' or 'black' thumb :( hahaha

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    1. Barbara, well...the cool thing is if you discover you have a black thumb, you can blame it on poor dirt. If you have a green thumb..well...then it's your skill. LOL Happy gardening! Let me know how it turns out.

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  4. I just ventured into planting herbs and chose hardy ones that need little maintenance. Some day I hope to have berries. My great grandma grew currants, pears apples and a couple other odd fruits in her inner-city yard in Cleveland, Ohio. She was passionate like you are about her gardening!

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    1. haha...I'm surprising myself with the passion part of things. This garden is super fun. I don't remember my last garden meaning so much to me. Perhaps it's because we're now in our forever home. :)

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