Planting raspberries

Can black raspberries and red raspberries be planted close and not cross? I want to plant Black berries and black and red raspberries in my north pasture this spring but want to have all three berries stay what I planted.

Nancy Foster
Dallas City, Illinois

Yes, these berries can definitely be planted closely and will not cross. Crosses between brambles is usually from seed-grown plants that have been manually pollinated on purpose. You’re good to go! — Jackie

Corn seeds

In your column of the Nov/Dec 2011 (#132) issue you mention that you grow True Gold open pollinated yellow corn. Where do you purchase your seeds? Have looked in all my seed catalogs and can’t find this corn.

Brad Barrie
Strong, Maine

I’ve grown and saved seeds from True Gold sweet corn since we lived in New Mexico. You can still find it in Seeds of Change’s catalog (www.seedsofchange.com). Good growing! — Jackie

Potato soup recipe

Do you have a good potato soup recipe?

Vickie Shelby
Logan, Ohio

Sure do, Vickie. (It’s found on page 60 of Jackie Clay’s Pantry Cookbook.) Here it is:

6 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 onion, chopped
6 Tbsp. flour
1½ cups milk
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
4 cups cooked, diced potatoes
1 cup cooked, diced carrots
1 cup cooked, sliced or diced celery
Grated cheese (optional)

In a large saucepan, saute onions in butter, then add flour, stirring well. Slowly add milk, salt, and pepper to make a medium sauce. Gently stir in vegetables. Add more milk, if needed, to make the soup the desired consistency. You may also add grated cheese.

This is our favorite, hearty potato soup and goes great with a slice or two of warm homemade bread! — Jackie

4 COMMENTS

  1. Have made’ basically, this recipe for 50 yrs. Have always loved it. Try adding some fresh or frozen broccolli. Makes it extra special. Love your Blog.

  2. I made a version of the potato soup tonight – by memory. (Thought I would try it, but didn’t log back in for a look – just went to work.) Forgot the butter. Added fried bacon (onions lightly fried in bacon drippings) and crumbled into soup. Used cream and skim milk – no salt (worked out fine with bacon) and added parsley. It was FABULOUS! I expected it to be really good (how can you go wrong with those ingredients?) Carrots, Potatoes and onions were all home grown. Celery had been dehydrated. With some cheese, crackers and homemade bread it pleased the family – teenagers and all!

  3. Seeds of Change does sell True Gold. Peaceful Valley also has it – or did last year – http://www.groworganic.com. There are a few comments about it and information about its origin on the Baker Creek Heirlom Seeds online forum, idigmygarden.com http://www.idigmygarden.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-27551.html
    It is not in the Baker Creek catalog. You might want to order your seed early. Another open pollinated variety that might work for you is Fisher’s Earliest from Fisher’s Seeds in Belgrade, MT. The information on idigmygarden says True Gold was selected from Golden Jubilee, which is available from lots of companies

  4. I can second the close-planting of black and red raspberries. In 2004, I planted 2 varieties of red raspberries, 1 variety of blackberry and 1 variety of black raspberry in a single row, along a fence, about 40′ long. I still have the 4 berries genetically separate and distinct, each with different bloom and fruit times. The only issue is with physical separation. The blackberries have killer thorns. The black raspberries have thorns about half as long. Both are reaching canes which will root everywhere they touch ground. As such, both out-compete the red raspberries, but the black raspberries seem a little more virulent. Even though there were the same number of plants of each variety initially, the black raspberries are king. The one nice thing is that the thorns and the bluish tint on the juvenile black raspberry canes are a dead giveaway, allowing you to cut/thin them if you want. I personally like the black raspberries best of all, so I mostly let them grow.

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