Abundance! (sort of)

Bee balm

Bee balm came back in a planter that is on the front porch. The blossoms are really cool looking. It definitely attracts bees.

As an herb it has a lot of actions like antimicrobial, and diaphoretic. It can be used as a substitute for oregano.

It's a very cool herb and we want to use it more often.

Blackberry

Raspberries are starting to produce a little bit of fruit but we've only got three plants that we just put in this season. One died all the way back to the roots, but it is showing some new growth now.

Strawberries are beginning to make a second round of berries. We harvested a good amount in the first round.

Blackberries are beginning to ripen but they are being hindered because they are in a fairly shaded area, but there are lots of them.

Apricot

The gooseberries are just about to ripen although we don't have very many of them.

Gooseberry

Oddly enough, today I discovered two apricots on the apricot tree, which we never noticed had bloomed at all. They are both nearly ripe as well.

In the backyard just this week I discovered that there is a mulberry tree producing fruit in the yard next door that hangs over our fence. So the majority of it is falling in our yard.

In the front yard, I've just discovered that we have black cherry tree. Black cherry can be used for a number of different things like jams and infusions with liquor.

I believe that it must take a minimum number of chill hours for the mulberry and cherry to set fruit because the last two years they did not bear any fruit. This past winter was very cold for a long time.