Many, many years ago when I first read about the University of Saskatchewan's Romance series of cherries I very much wanted them, specifically the Juliet variety. Their cold tolerance, sour yet sweet taste, and compact yet productive habitat appealed to me greatly. There were just so many barriers in the way for many years.
They weren't licensed to be sold in the states. Then it was just the Carmine Jewel, and only through one retailer. I waited and waited, and by the time I could purchase the variety I wanted, I had about a billion things that I had to spend any money I had on (show steer and competition accoutrement), plus, I wasn't going to drop monies on premium, licensed plants and not be around to tend to them.
So I waited. And waited. And then on Monday, a great thing happened, two, three gallon Juliet bush cherry plants arrived on my doorstep!
Our weather up here is very broody and moody right now, but honestly it was perfect for transplanting shrubbery, so yesterday I waited between squalls and went out and got the beautiful little plants settled in to the garden enclosure.
I had picked out two spots I thought would work beautifully for my new plant friends. One I put in the space between an elevated garden box and a very old English rose I am trying to bring back. The other I plunked between the end of the raspberry rows and the honeyberry bushes.
After they were settled and watered in, I marveled that almost twenty years after I had first heard of them I finally had some Juliet cherries in the ground. I think they may fruit next year, but I may pluck most of the flowers off of them next year, aggressively fertilize, and enjoy the fruits of awesomeness the following year. I may be a little excited...
With the weather being just crazy, I have been doing a lot of work inside, work outside roulette. Today, I finished shoveling all the compost in the garden I needed along with burning a slash pile of stumps. In between huffing and puffing as I shoveled, I often stopped and smiled at all my animal friends. The baby geese were taught to swim today, and they were just precious all in a row.
My deer are getting ready to drop fawns, I shoveled many little frogs into my ATV trailer, and there are nightcrawlers and red worms EVERYWHERE! Life is definitely lifing all over the place here. The hubs even saw fresh bear scat down at the other end of the lake, and I played MarioKart with a huge moose on my way home Monday. It's never dull in the Montana mountains for sure.
This next week it looks like I can get my warmer weather crops going. The cold weather crops are doing fantastic. I've got carrots, beets, turnip greens, cabbage, radishes, chives, and all manner of lettuce popping up all over the place. a thing I am not sad about, as I would much rather eat food I grow than food I go pick up in town.
Now if I only had a bit more writing time, I would feel like I had achieved a bit of balance...
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's thoroughly covered in compost and larch pollen iPhone.
