Early Bloomers

Our spring weather has been so beautiful this year that we have early bloomers in the garden.  The apple tree, given to me by my dad as a sappling 35 years ago, is full of blossoms. The little grape vine area next to the shed has been trimmed and is budding.

 

Apple tree in full bloom

This is the second year for the strawberry plants in the trug behind the shed.  

Strawberry plants

The lilac tree in the perennial path smells wonderful as we walk by!

Lilac

We've found that the secret to a large crop of rhubarb is adding plenty of composted manure in the spring!  This planting has been in the garden for many years.

Rhubarb

Forget Me Nots seed down each year, so we always have mounds of blue and pink flowers scattered throughout the garden in early spring.

Forget Me Nots

The red azalea adds bold color to the garden and is surrounded with blue forget me nots and white azaleas behind it.  Red, white and blue!  Our patriotic area!

Azalea

The rhododendrun is in full bloom at the front entrance.

Rhody

We installed two oriole feeders on April 28th and received our first visitor May 2nd.

Baltimore Oriole

Concord Grapes

The little patch of concord grape vines next to the shed has been pruned and is beginning to show new leaf growth.  

Grape Juice

I picked the Concord grapes from our small vineyard : ) of three vines and was able to squeeze out about 5 quarts of lucious juice.  The house was filled with that wonderful grape aroma!  


After stripping the grapes from the stems I boiled them in a pot to release the juice and crushed them with a potato masher.  The grapes were then strained through cheesecloth to produce the juice with no seeds or skins. No sugar was added to the juice.


I processed and sealed the quarts for 15 minutes in a water bath canner, so they will last for months on the pantry shelf.

Grapes boiling in the pot

Quart jars after being processed in hot water bath canner

Concord Grapes

We started our little Concord grape patch about 15 years ago with three vines and planted them next to our shed where they get sun most of the day. Concord grapes are native to North America.   I've never known how to prune them like an expert, but we still get a nice crop each year, enough for juice, jelly and snacking.  We always know when they're ready to pick just by walking by the vines and smelling that wonderful grape aroma! And, of course, by the taste test : )

Photo taken on July 31, 2016

Photo taken today, September 22, 2016, of the same bunch of grapes.