Snacks in the Garden

Believe it or not, I am capable of growing a few snacks in the garden.

True, I did say I've had terrible luck with the vegetables. But I can grow a bit of fruit.
Well, if tomatoes are considered a fruit.

I believe the jury is still out on the tomato.

I, myself, consider a fresh tomato a fruit. I eat it with sugar on it. I picked up that habit from my father. While I do use it as a vegetable, fresh out of the garden I consider it a fruit. Old habits die hard.

But I don't consider tomatoes a snack.

When I snack, I munch on raspberries.

This year, I actually have enough to almost consider it a crop.
There's a story behind the poor raspberry plants in my yard.
Long ago, when I first moved here, my sister brought me some raspberry plants from her own patch up in Wisconsin. I staked out a great spot in the back yard up against the fence, planted them, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I wouldn't have had to wait so long (nine years, to be exact) if my yard didn't flood.
The first patch was just about ready to really take off when the yard had the big summer flood. The poor plants stood in water for over a week and it almost killed them all. I think I managed to rescue four scraggly plants and moved them to a raised bed for protection.

And then I waited.

The waiting has finally paid off. I've been munching and picking for two weeks now. One day I actually had a cereal bowl full of raspberries.

I was so proud.

Now I just have to tame them at bit and I'll be in business.
Raspberries like to wander.
But I learned a trick the other day. My neighbor told me an old farmer's trick to use to keep them in nice neat rows. He told me to bury an old rusty chain or anything that will rust in the beds where you want them to grow. Apparently the plants are attracted to the rust.

Now I just have to go hunt down some old rusty items.

I never thought I'd go looking for rust.