Stark Bros: https://stark-bros-nurseries-and-orchards-co.pxf.io/o4PV9O
WHERE TO FIND US:
– Our Website: https://rootsandrefuge.com
-Miah’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@miahsworkshop
-My Cooking Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@The_Farmers_Table
– Sign up for our newsletter: https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-signup
-Order Coffee & Tea from our roaster: https://www.beulahroastingco.com
-Our Amazon Wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/SFA0IZHZRCOZ?ref_=wl_share
PRODUCTS I LOVE AND SUPPORT:
Greenstalk Vertical Gardens(Use code ROOTS10 for discount): https://greenstalkgarden.com/?rstr=ROOTS10
The white beds in my tea garden (Birdies Beds from Epic Gardening): https://shop.epicgardening.com/ROOTSANDREFUGE
BootstrapFarmer Site: https://shrsl.com/3w46t
The Roots and Refuge Shop: https://roots-refuge.myshopify.com
Order our T-Shirts and Sweatshirts https://roots-and-refuge-farm-shop.fourthwall.com/collections/all
Dramm Watering head: https://amzn.to/3Djs9yF
Long neck Dramm watering wand (for more established plants): https://amzn.to/41xxcoH
Heat mats: https://amzn.to/3QCyhVX
Grow lights: https://amzn.to/41yscAd
(Some of these thinks are affiliate links which means I make a small commission at no additional cost to you. Using my affiliate links helps me buy seeds and soil and goats, so thank you.)
42 Comments
Stark Bros is sending my first order of raspberry bushes next week and I’m very excited. I’m also planting strawberries from them. I didn’t realize that they were the oldest nursery, but they sure have the best reputation.
ugh! Im totally in analysis paralysis since its in the low 40's and non stop rain. Im in a zone 6a 🤷♀️
Blueberries: you have to know your zone and your chill hours. You will either grow Northern Highbush or Southern Highbush, not both. Down South, we can also grow Rabbiteyes. You need pollinating partners for each category. For example, I have multiple cultivars of Southern Highbush and multiple cultivars of Rabbiteyes. Published chill hour requirements are not always accurate in blueberries, but they are a guide.
They are sooooo good, so worth all the effort. We have alkaline soil and alkaline water, so Espoma Soil Acidifier is our friend!
My 3 smaller variety blueberry bushes from Stark Bros, “Bushel & Berry Jelly Bean” 2nd Spring after initial Fall planting are doing very well, 2 of 3 have ALOT of fruit; in large containers, mulched with pine needles. We are zone 9, the high desert mountains east of San Diego, CA.
Oh love it, so much fruit ❤
Yooo whooo Jess! Your dog is broken! ❤
I just ordered a Honey Crisp Apple tree from Stark Bros sent to my daughter for Mother's Day! What a fantastic company! She, husband and my grands just moved away from me in Florida to Winston-Salem NC. I miss them so much…but now they can grow apples!!! And yes, I put in her zip code on their site and it came back with just two apple trees to grow there.
I'm thinking that once you lower the PH of the blueberry soil, that might deter the grass/weed growth. I don't have any suggestions for the rest of the beds though. Maybe acidify the walkways?
Thank you for sharing. Miah is funny, love your videos ❤❤❤
I bought a thornless blackberry a couple of years ago at the end the season at Walmart and had absolutely no expectations for it. I stuck in the ground in some fairly hard soil and stuck a drip head at the base and basically forgot about it. Last year I fertilized and pruned it and lo and behold this year it took off and is loaded with berries. I hope they are sweet. I am treating it better now so there is hope. If I get a good harvest I buy a couple of more plants.
You are going to be so blessed and happy when all that fruit really starts producing. Enjoy and Amen! Blessings. 🥰
Stark brothers is used by a lot of people so you picked a good sponsor go for it ❤❤❤
This is so encouraging! We are buying a wonderful home with half an acre of sunshine yard and I am so looking forward to planting all the berries and fruit we possibly can while still keeping a grassy yard to play in. I need to research the different sizes of trees. We love cherry, peach and apples. I plan on a few greenstalks for strawberries inspired by you. We are so excited! Our current rental is all shaded and much as I've tried, it doesn't grow anything well.
Do you prune your thornless blackberries? If you do would you please do a tutorial video. My berries are 2 years old. They a loaded but very thin vines. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I think they should be think and lush not spindly.
MMmmm Berries 🙂 Great Video!
When planting all your berry plants why didn’t you put some fertilizer down in the hole to give them a strong start?
It looks like it will be a good berry year here on NW Missouri. I have been picking strawberries for the past week and should get another good week of berry picking. I want to expand the strawberry beds. We had a well established blackberry hedge but this spring we doubled the amount of bushes. I’ve had some challenges getting blueberries established. The mulberries should be ripe in about a week, it’s a competition with the birds to get the berries.
I love Stark bros fruit trees. We got quite a few fruit trees from them two years ago when we moved to this property.
I struggle growing berries because birds and squirrels get the fruits before I do… so frustrating!
That is a lot of blackberries especially since you also have mull berries which are very similar and prolific.
I buy almost all of my fruit trees, bushes, and plants from Stark Bros! I've also had a really great experience with them.
I just planted a couple dozen strawberry bare roots and a couple raspberry plants from starkbros this week. They already look healthy and have grown.
Your approach to overcoming initial fears and methodically planning the garden is commendable. It's a great example for aspiring gardeners.
Bear is like 'MOM…MOM…MMMMMMMOOOOOOOMMMMM look at me!!!!'
That is going to look so good once established. Will you be inter planting anything there while they are still small to encourage or deter insects?
I would love more space for perennial fruits. We have rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries (thornless raspberries kindly gifted by a bird in a pot!). We have a street community tree of cherries just starting to ripen. The councils no longer care for them and if you complain, they rip them out and put a new one in but don't manage it from then out.
They did that to a tree across the road and it is so bushy from the root stock. What is also sad about this tree, is that it is also a memorial to a young lady that tragically passed away from the rented house behind it, just before we moved in. I want to trim it back but also have so much social anxiety of where to put the cutting. I can't go outside atm as have some facial problems from long covid and inadequate healthcare needs, here in London, UK. NHS is not totally free, especially dental. Dentist was closed during lockdown and i when from the best one to Miss Trenchbull, who has caused so much damage to my teeth than good, my teeth are healthier when i don't see her. It's like a dodgy garage, roofer or plumber. Shes now p*ssed that she wont be getting money from extractions that she has caused. She has poor bed side manner and said that i had poor hygiene, when my teeth are white, whilst ignoring my long term covid and even longer term sinus issues. Sorry for the rant btw. Very insensitive and could have retorted that at least i don't have a poor diet. She literally told me off for holding the arm rest as she was leaning into me to remove a tooth that didn't need an extraction and damaged 3 other teeth, knocking off a crown and putting it on backwards after. She offered cleaning at £60 per session (NHS not private) and made it worse. Finding a new NHS dentist is like panning for gold. She only works 2 days a week She separates care plans so she can earn more money. We are looking at more than £1k for NHS work. If they do the full care plan properly it should be £360.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent. We are lucky to have a near by playing fields that once was natural but they kept the blackberry bushes at least. It's about 3-500 yards long and about 10 – 20ft deep. The council don't spray them any more or manage it, for that matter and there are less and less people picking them as new people are 'migrating' here and local people are moving away, like where i used to live more inside London. That means we get a free for all one theses and we wash and freeze them before using. We also only pick from 2ft and higher to avoid any other contaminates.
Local foraging for us is very much limited now due to wild and natural spaces being used for dog walking and playing sports.
I feel that the reaction or inaction of the response to the Oct '87 hurricane paved more the way for developers than to restore existing natural structures. Due to inheritance tax if you now want to buy land for a small hold/ homesteading, you are now talking about a London house price in m.
I'm BERRY excited for you! 😂
My horseradish and rhubarb from them are growing so well as are my 3 fruit trees. They did not have nanking cherries so I had to get those elsewhere
I feel like I’m learning so much more about your garden and your skill
These daily videos are diving deeper into so much more then before
Love It
I just have to say I love watching Bear follow you in the garden. Laughing with you when Bear was laying on his back relaxing, like he was asking for his belly to be rubbed. One happy farm dog there.
We love stark bros!!! Unfortunately we had an old apple orchard that just hadn’t been well kept for a long time & we decided it was best to remove the old trees and replant. We got 10 dwarf apple trees in the fall a couple years ago and saw the first flowers on them this spring already!! You’re so right about their website – so much good info on there. I can’t wait to add other fruit trees to our property from them!!
I’ve had mixed results with Stark Bros.. just saying. I live in Missouri where they are based, their customer service needs to pay attention. I’ve sent messages and emails and the response wasn’t fantastic.
Your berry garden looks wonderful. It took me years to find a place in my yard that my thornless blackberries would do well. When I finally found a spot they liked there was no stopping them. I now get a huge harvest and had to find new ways to use them. For the first time last summer I used my steam juicer and canned juice to drink over the winter. I'm going to double my juice production this summer.
Can you harvest Pine Nuts?😊
Love Bear at the beginning having a good roll in the dirt!!
At this point, you could do all sponsors all the time and I would still watch. 😂😂😂
I planted three blueberry bushes in 2021, and they are still smaller than the ones that you just transplanted from stark bros. I’ve been considering moving them into a raised bed, and now you’ve convinced me. I’ll wait until this fall though, once the garden is done producing for this year. My whole garden space is comprised of 10 2ft x 10ft beds, and I’m thinking I might do perennials fruits and veggies in half of them and the rest of my garden in the other half of the beds.
12:02 deep roots – another garden life lesson. Deep watering to encourage deep roots. That applies to the soul and relationships.
Thank you Jess, and Miah, for nurturing, your garden, one another and me (us) 😍
My understanding is that pine needles do not actually change soil pH all that much, even though they are classified as acidic. When we planted blueberries we were advised to plant in a peat-rich soil and check the pH each year (we live in an area with quite alkaline soil although a lot of pine trees grow here) and that mulching with pine needles would not really do the trick, pH wise. Maybe your soil/compost is already on the acidic side so it may not be as much of an issue. We have also used Stark Bros. for many years with good results. One of our favorites are the yellow raspberries – they are so sweet and the birds don't bother them, although the yellow jackets now do pose a problem as they will get into them just before they are at peak ripeness.
You are such a beautiful soul!
Hey Jess and family,Happy Memorial Day weekend 🇺🇲.
Hirray the fruit is coming on and Stark Bro's is adding more fruits 🎉
JO JO IN VT ☔️🇺🇲
Wonderful. You will have a good amount of fruit for your family for decades to come. Gifts, fresh, preserved, baked. A blessing and a sweet one. I was just on the Stark Brother's site this morning. Am going to add some dwarf blackberries, dwarf fruit trees and possibly a grape. Have a small amount of Sunny space that can grow edibles since the other half of the lot is shade, buildings and septic area.
Sadly stark bros having horrible shipping issues 😡