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lpinkmountain

I have to tear out my berries :(

lpinkmountain
15 years ago

I finally found out what my raspberry bushes have, it's not verticillium wilt, which is good for the rest of my garden, but it is cane blight and cane borers. I really have to tear them out, I don't have enough plants to make it worth trying to treat them--they are just going from bad to worse. I am very bummed since I was able to harvest about 2 quarts of berries this year and had a lot of fun making cakes and muffins with them! I do so want to grow "edible" plants in my yard, but with this tiny, tiny courtyard garden I have, it really is not worth it--they just end up looking leggy and too wild for the close quarters.

I don't know really what to do with the little spot I have them in. It's only about 18 inches wide up against my chainlink fence. I'm thinking a rose, maybe Blanc Double de Coubert but maybe I want something more colorful. I mostly go out there at night though, in the summer. Maybe mixed in with some kind of coneflower and hollyhocks. I'd like something fragrant but with the space limitations I don't know . . . Up the road there is a house with wild clematis growing all over the fence, but I don't want to plant something that is going to become a nuisance in this tight spot. I already have so much trouble with the wild morning glories.

Here's a picture of it two years ago in the early spring, before everything went to pot. You'd hardly recognize that spot now, it's full of mint and languishing canes.

I am just so bummed because those raspberries were my one edible success. My crabapple also has to go--riddled with fire blight, it looks hideous. My wild blueberry bush is drab most of the time, and only gets about 10 berries on it. Other than herbs, my edible landscaping has been a total bust! I just don't know what to do with that spot. Anyone have any ideas for that spot of anything that would be decorative AND maybe have some part that is edible or at least fun to play with in some way?

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