The Nanking Cherry bushes this morning: all in full bloom! 
Last year, our Nanking Cherry bushes bloomed, but we did not have many cherries to speak of.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, the bee population has declined drastically, so we have lost a lot of our pollinators (and a lot of potential fruit as a result).
We need bees. Yes, there are other pollinators out there still, but we need bees.
Until we get some bees, I have been reading on how to do a little pollination myself. It's pretty labor-intensive, and method varies with each plant.
For the Nanking Cherry, it seems that it's not good enough to pollinate the flowers on the plant from the same plant. I need to cross the pollen with another Nanking Cherry or another plant in the same family (stone fruits, which our other varieties are not blooming *quite* yet).
Time for a little experiment. Outside I go with my wee little paintbrush and a few colored pieces of yarn to mark my progress.
The method is easy: "paint" the center of each flower.
There's more than one way to paint a Cherry Blossom!
Method 1: Before researching a bit more after having time to think as I "painted", was to start with one branch and paint all(most) of the flowers on that one branch. I marked this branch with pink yarn and went inside to read some more.....Method 2: Pick a branch on each bush and go back and forth between the bushes, painting flowers on a branch of each bush. I marked these branches with cream colored yarn.
Method 3: (because I was getting a little bit tired of painting blossoms by this time) was to use my hands and lightly brush up and down the branches of blossoms on each of the three bushes. I marked these with black yarn.
Any way I did it, some of the blossoms fell off. My bushes are no longer the striking beauties they once were. But at least I might have some cherries in a few months!
I did see about 3 bees when I was out just now (yeah!).
Now to wait a few months to see if there are any noticeable results. :)
I read the article in the Lima News and loved it. I have had a hard time finding your sight. I clicked on every thing beginning with living until I found you.
ReplyDeleteThis blog was very interesting, we haven't had any bees for some years. I am especially interested in canning and drying which was mentioned in the paper, do you do classes? Thanks
I am glad you put forth the extra effort to find me!
ReplyDeleteI just checked the link on the Lima News online site and they don't have the links working right for some reason. :( I think it might be because it's an incomplete link (without the "www.").
As of right now, I don't do classes. My last canning experience was with tomatoes, which were one of my worst allergens(thought I didn't know that at the time) and needless to say it wasn't a great experience for me, lol. I am toying with the idea of canning a few things this year though... (not tomatoes! lol)
As far as drying, as mentioned in the article, I use an Excalibur food dehydrator. I basically just refer to the book that came with it as far as how to prepare.
To the right of my blog, under my picture and About Me, there is a list of "Labels", with which I have organized my blog (somewhat). You might find more information like what you are looking for under "Food Preservation".
Thanks for reading! :)