After a summer marked with rain, where it seemed to occur every other day, once we planted aronia berries the moisture stopped. Yes this year that through September had been one of the top five wettest on record, turned dry after October 9th, planting day. Today we’re finally getting a much needed soaking from Mother Nature.
The plants are doing well for the most part. Although I’m sure the water I’ve been applying via the tank and pump system behind the lawn tractor isn’t nearly as good as the real thing. We have managed to keep them healthy by our at least weekly waterings. It may not seem like a big deal, but when we first started watering it was an eight-hour chore to get around. Now we’ve fine tuned the operation and it doesn’t take quite that long. It’s just a tedius, time-consuming task that is best left to Mother Nature.
So we’re celebrating the rain today in central Iowa and enjoying the long-range forecast which includes rain next week too!
Yes we’re cussing the deer. Since we planted the berries, we’ve replanted and replanted countless times. The first weekend alone we probably replanted 100. It’s been a month and over the last couple days we’ve replanted about a dozen. The stupid deer pull the plants out of the ground and leave them lay, usually right where they were planted. But sometimes you have to go on a search mission.
They’ve even figured out how to get inside the fishing line fencing gate to pull them out. The fence is in tact but the plants are pulled out. Who said these were stupid animals? Sasha has been doing her best to keep them at bay at night and Abe is learning to chase them off. We have seen a remarkable difference on the nights Sasha is most active and barking through the night. Fewer plants are uprooted. So the big dogs are excellent prevention. Sasha is about 12 years old and just not as fast as she used to be and Abe is only 6 months old and not as brave and bold as he needs to be just yet. It’s looking like we should have gotten him sooner!
We’re so fed up with the deer though we’re talking electric fence and we hate to think about it, but it may be the best option to protect our investment. We have yet to weigh all the pros and cons.
In the meantime, I’m off to water once again. Since we planted we’ve only had one significant rainfall. So I’m still hauling water. Come on rain! It rains all summer long until planting time and then the spicket shuts off – just our luck. 🙂
Fogles Organic Aronia Berries – A Homegrown Super Food!
