Saskatoons!

I wanted to plant bushes of some sort near one corner of the fence this spring. While trying to decide what to plant, I read about Saskatoons. Saskatoons are edible, they should grow well here and they weren't very expensive at all (I think they cost me about $8 for the pair after discounts), so I decided to try them. Gurney's markets them as a blueberry for the west as they live in alkaline soils. I figured if I didn't like them, the birds would and I'd still have bushes that bloom, fruit and have nice fall color.

For those unfamiliar, Saskatoons (Amelanchier) are also known as Serviceberry, Shadblow or Juneberry. I'm not absolutely positive that these are all 3 the same thing, but everything I found sure makes it sound like they are, or they are very close. They grow as an erect shrub to about 20' tall (taller in rich soils). Compact clusters of fragrant flowers appear in spring followed by sweet, blue berries in summer and long lasting orange-red fall color. They are native to the western United States and Canada.

I tried to highlight the Serviceberry in this photo from the Xeriscape gardens for an idea of how they look when more mature though it's still hard to distinguish between it and the bush behind it..

For my $8, I received two little Saskatoon sticks, one of which bloomed in early June. They have chicken wire around them so the dogs don't accidentally run them over. They are still really hard to see.

View from above...

I wandered out to check on my little sticks today and look what I found!

I picked the two ripest berries to taste-test. I had been told they have pretty big seeds for a little berry, so I cut one open to look before I ate it.

Compared to a currant (which have huge seeds if you've never eaten them), the seeds aren't too bad, but there seem to be 4 seeds per berry, to they are certainly noticeable. Probably twice the size of raspberry seeds. These two tasted pretty good. They may have been a little over-ripe, but not bad at all. They didn't have a really strong flavor and I'm not sure how to describe it. even though I went back and picked the two next-ripest berries. Maybe when I have more of a handful to eat, I'll come up with something. For now, the best I can do is they were sweet and un-offensive though the seeds were certainly noticeable (I ate some & spit some). So far they look like they'll be productive though. This fruiting plant isn't even 3' tall yet.


On another note, look what the cat found the other day. I actually saw one toad last year and was so surprised to find one out here in the dry prairie. This year might be nicer for them (I'm guessing, I don't really know) as we've had a lot more moisture. This guy is a little messy looking since he had crammed himself between a clay saucer with a few plants awaiting their big move to the new flower garden and the exterior wall of the garage where the spider (whom I need to eyeball - it looks to be a black & shiny one) lives. Mr. Toad is traveling with some bug bodies stuck to him.

Since my darlin' Annie was trying to smack him on the head and if he moved from his spot wedged behind the saucer he would be sitting in the hot mid-day sun on the sidewalk, I nudged him into an empty pot and moved him to the cooler ground under the little lilac. The cat found him again so she had to go inside. Sometime after I went inside, Mr. Toad moved on. Who could blame him? Maybe next year he'll find some nice spots to hide in the new perennial garden and he'll decide to stay a while.

Answers, Austrees & critters

I wandered out to the garden this morning to plant round 2 of the corn, a batch of yellow beans and some pole beans. I took a peek at the Rattlesnake beans and got a surprise. I'm quite sure there was a rabbit in the bed last night. The little bugger dug out a spot just behind the sticks in the picture from my last post, between the beans and one of the Roma tomatoes. I noticed one of the Romas wasn't looking good yesterday, now I think it's done for. I'll probably lose a few beans but I have more seed and it's early enough in the season to replant with no problem. I'm quite sure now that the previous mystery digging was a rabbit after all. It does still seem surprising that they didn't seem to eat anything. Today's digging looked like the digging in the mulch earlier this spring. I think I gave the bunny easy access to the bed by leaving a pile of straw flakes I had removed from one of the other beds when I planted it. I removed that pile today.

While repairing the bunny damage, I noticed more buds forming on the Austree trimmings. I figured since there was already disturbance in the area, I might as well check to make sure there weren't any roots forming on the sticks. I yanked one out and wouldn't you know, that sucker had roots on it!. Not what I wanted to see at all. I pulled out all of the sticks that showed any signs of green. I had roots starting on 3 or 4 of them, so now I need to come up with a new plan for them this week, before the beans & cuke get very big.

The critters were active the last couple days. In additions to the rabbit, I also found that the pocket gophers have been active on BOTH sides of the backyard. I'm used to finding evidence on the north side but today I had a busy digger on the south side as well. I found one Mountain Mahogany chewed off at the roots, and a second that may or may not have been a gopher casualty. It was headed for a third, nice, healthy little bush that's only about 6" tall. There was also a hole inside the fence. I hope it doesn't make it to the new fruit trees.

On the plus side, I did notice today that one of the two Saskatoons is actually blooming -which is surprising since they are really just sticks at this point. They're so small and hard to see, I actually have fencing around them so the dogs don't run over them. The second one is getting a few leaves now. I also am finally seeing signs of life from the Anne raspberries. I was starting to wonder if they'd ever grow. 8 of the 9 raspberry plants either have leaves or buds now. One Caroline isn't doing anything yet. I'm only seeing growth on one of the blackberries so far but I'm trying to be patient. The raspberries were all planted before the blackberries, so I'm going to wait & see.