What did you do in the garden today?

[Sally PB]

Does anyone grow mahonia, aka, Oregon Grape? I'm wondering about getting a couple of bushes.

Some say the berries make good jam, others say it isn't worth the trouble. Honeybees love the flowers, and the bush flowers early in the season when there isn't much else in bloom.

 

[Rick589]

Does anyone grow mahonia, aka, Oregon Grape? I'm wondering about getting a couple of bushes.

Some say the berries make good jam, others say it isn't worth the trouble. Honeybees love the flowers, and the bush flowers early in the season when there isn't much else in bloom.

@Smokerbill

 

[Rick589]

I wouldn't buy anything experimental. that's me.

That’s what actually caused Frankensteins monster.

 

[akroberts1085]

Last night after my husband went to bed, I was watching some TV. I came across an advertisement for ChipDrop and signed up. Has anyone used the site? I agreed to have some logs in the mix because I can use them for planters or plant stands. I'm hoping to use them for leveling the back yard.

 

[Rick589]

Today the fall peas are in the ground. Four 12’ rows of Lillian caseload.

 

[Smokerbill]

Does anyone grow mahonia, aka, Oregon Grape? I'm wondering about getting a couple of bushes.

Some say the berries make good jam, others say it isn't worth the trouble. Honeybees love the flowers, and the bush flowers early in the season when there isn't much else in bloom.

I just go down into the woods and pick berries from the wild plants. I made jelly from a couple cups of berries a few days ago and I like it. It tastes a lot like Concord grape jelly to me.

The variety growing here is mahonia nervosa, the low growing type. I've seen the tall type, mahonia aquifolium, growing up north near Puget Sound. Both have edible berries.

The pages below each contain several links to more information, including propogation techniques.

https://nativeplantspnw.com/tall-oregon-grape-mahonia-aquifolium/

https://nativeplantspnw.com/low-oregon-grape-mahonia-nervosa/

More info...

https://npn.rngr.net/renderNPNProtocolDetails?selectedProtocolIds=berberidaceae-mahonia

https://ask.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=768751

https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/mahonia-nervosa

 

[cj2024]

Wonder how you could accomplish this at home.

Maybe with a steamer and dehydrator. However, you won't know what to shoot for or if it's worth the effort, unless you taste the product.

 

[Rick589]

Maybe with a steamer and dehydrator. However, you won't know what to shoot for or if it's worth the effort, unless you taste the product.

So true, but a chewy sweet potato with concentrated sweet potato flavor does make ones mouth

 

[Smokerbill]

The spring snow pea vines were all pretty much dead so I pulled them all out and spread them on a rabbit cage so the pods will finish drying. I'm hoping there will be enough seeds for next year's crop.

ETA: Oops, forgot the picture.


I pruned and trained the cucumbers and butternut squash vines, picked one ready-enough cuke.

Got all the still-green dill heads picked off and in the freezer, and cut off all the drier heads with mature seeds and have those hanging on the back porch to finish drying before I clean and package the seeds. I'll leave the remaining dill heads in the garden to re-seed for next year.

 

[TJAnonymous]

When I looked up the pokeweed, it said more or less you have to boil the h@#$ out of it to eat it. I'm gonna just pass on that.

Pokeweed is aggressively invasive too. It spreads by both seed from the purple berries and rhizomes. They are easy to pull up when small but if you allow them to get big, it's next to impossible to pull them out. I missed clearing them out for ONE season and now it's a full on war. I've even sprayed the cut stalks with Glyphosate which is SUPPOSED to kill the root but it's still coming back.