Growing Blueberries
5/01/2008

One of the best plant purchases that I've made in the past few years was buying these blueberry bushes. I've had berries every year since buying them except when I had to do an emergency transplant to their current location because of my pool renovation. And since then, they recovered nicely and are very productive once again.

And when blueberry plants flower up like this in the spring, that means that berries are on the way. Sure, we won't be eating them for a few months but just knowing that they're on the way is nice.

When the berries do arrive this summer, I plan on getting my share. My kids are notorious for swooping in and eating all the berries before anyone else gets any. I've found that the best solution to that problem is to plant more berries. My latest totals are 5 blueberry plants, 6 strawberry plants and the blackberries are 6 feet tall and 12 feet wide. I think I should be able to eat a berry or two this year. Wish me luck.

Posted by Anthony 7:10 AM 7 comments  

Labels: berries

Blackberry Bush
2/08/2008

Definitely in need of some pruning.

Posted by Anthony 12:12 AM 1 comments  

Labels: berries

Protecting Berries
8/07/2007

The birds and squirrels in my yard are notorious for eating all of my blueberries, blackberries and strawberries before I even get a chance to decide whether I’m going to use them to make pancakes or muffins. And so far, despite putting it pretty high on my to do list, I still haven’t built any berry cages or put any bird netting around my plants. My only defense over the years has been to grow more and more and that strategy is finally working

So for first time in ages, I was looking forward to the chance to enjoy some fresh picked berries. But before the pancake griddle had a chance to heat up, the berries were gone. Once again my berry supply was decimated but this time, the birds and squirrels weren’t guilty. This time it was two brand new pests and their voracious appetites made the birds and squirrels seem like… well, birds and squirrels. They didn’t stop their daily feeding frenzy until the blueberries bushes were bare, the blackberry brambles were stripped clean and the strawberries plants were completely wiped out.

Normally I would be pretty upset but I don’t mind because these new pests were my kids. My 5 year old son and his 3 year old sister have made berry picking (and eating) a daily ritual for the past few weeks. We would bring a basket or a bag up to the garden to pick the berries but none of them ever made it back into the house. My son has become a pro at contorting his body and avoiding thorns to get the ripest blackberries and my daughter is close to having a permanent berry stain from her chin to her nose.

So if you are a berry grower, I advise using extreme caution. With my berries mostly gone, my kids may look to your yards and gardens for their next feast.

Posted by Anthony 7:53 PM 10 comments  

Labels: berries

Magic Strawberries
7/12/2007

I don't know if you've ever heard of this variety before, but I have what's known as Magic Strawberries.

I bought them as seedlings and they grew into these healthy strong plants that send out lots of runners and flower all the time. The flowers turn into beautiful looking small green strawberries and then, this is the magic part, they disappear never to be seen again.

On the plant label it says:

"Magic Strawberries are guaranteed to get you anxious to eat delicious, home grown, ripe strawberries but then, through a unique and patented process, the green strawberries just disapear. Great gift for gardeners who like practical jokes."

I think that patented process has something to do with these hungry little guys.



Oh well, when all else fails, there are always U-Pick Strawberry Farms that aren't too far away. Their strawberries are always ripe, delicious and magic free.

Posted by Anthony 11:55 AM 5 comments  

Labels: berries

Blackberries Update
7/08/2007

My giant mess of a blackberry plant is actually starting to ripen.

The green blackberries that have been taunting me since last month are finally beginning to turn red. But they aren't called red-berries, so I'll continue waiting until they ripen to a delicious black color.

I have an interesting plan for these blackberries beside eating them right off the bush and the usual jams and pies. I want to give a bucketful to my Dad so that he can make some blackberry wine. He makes some mean Elderberry Wine and his Dandelion Wine is world class. I definitely want to see what he can do with my blackberries.

Posted by Anthony 10:17 AM 1 comments  

Labels: berries

Blueberries
6/05/2007

Besides Blackberries, it also looks like I’ll have a good amount of blueberries this year. Last year I only had one blueberry and a bird ate it before it turned blue. That’s not what I’d call a successful harvest.

I grew up loving blueberries and would never turn down a slice of homemade blueberry pie. In fact, I wouldn't turn down the less homemade Hostess variety either. My grandparents had a lake house up in the country and I remember picking buckets full of blueberries each summer. And that was using the “one for the bucket, two for me, one more for the bucket, three for me” method of picking. We'd even take the row boat and pick the wild blueberries that would grow around the lake.

So when I bought my house I made sure that I planted my own bushes. I've had blueberry bushes on my property for the last 7 years now. They were well established large bushes until last year when I had to transplant them because of pool/landscaping renovations.

But it looks like they're getting comfortable in their new home, a raised bed in my vegetable garden. As long as I can get out there and put a net over my plants in the next couple of weeks, my family should have it's fill of blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, blueberry pie and maybe even enough for my father to make some blueberry wine.

Posted by Anthony 7:53 PM 13 comments  

Labels: berries, vegetable garden

Blackberries

Does anyone have a good recipe for blackberry jam? I think I'll have a few extra blackberries this year and I might have to make some jam.

Posted by Anthony 6:58 AM 6 comments  

Labels: berries, garden pictures, vegetable garden

The Lone Blueberry
12/17/2006

I haven’t written much about blueberries this year because as you can see from the post title, I was only able to grow one!

My 4 blueberry plants are about 4 years old and are usually full of blueberries every summer. I pick enough for some blueberry muffins and pancakes and then the birds eat the rest. I’d love to set up some netting so that there would be enough fruit to make jam or something but that’s on my ever growing to-do list of chores. Until I find some time to do that, I don’t mind sharing with the birds.

This year the blueberry plants had to be transplanted because there’s now a stacked stone retaining wall where the blueberries used to be. The wall looks great but it doesn’t improve the taste of my pancakes at all.

So the blueberry bushes are in a bed in my raised vegetable garden now. They really didn’t like the move and barely grew at all this year. But towards the end of summer they adjusted and starting showing some new growth. I should be back in business next year. So in my garden journal, I’ve marked 2006 as the Year of the Lone Blueberry.

Posted by Anthony 10:47 AM 5 comments  

Labels: berries

Vanishing Strawberries
7/20/2006

You know, when I bought these strawberry plants, I thought I might be able to eat at least one strawberry this summer. Well it turns out that probably won't be the case. Sure they're growing great and as you can see, the flowers are having no problem setting fruit. It's just that the squirrels are beating me to them. They don't even wait until the strawberries turn red. This green one in the picture was gone when I woke up this morning. No fair!!!

Posted by Anthony 2:57 PM 6 comments  

Labels: berries

Zen Strawberries
6/28/2006

I bought three alpine strawberry plants this year and planted them in a stone planter that the previous owners of my house used as some sort of water garden. The stone looked great but the rusty metal bin with odd looking underwater lightbulb housing turned it into an oddity. The electrical line that powered this monstrosity didn't work anymore and was buried underneath a concrete patio. So something had to be done to make it look a little nicer.

After filling it with sand and adding some river rocks it then became a zen garden complete with some small wooden hand rakes that I bought at the dollar store. I had visions of sitting outside and raking nice tracks in the sand like a monk. Definitely much nicer than the mess that preceeded it. But the zen garden didn't last long because the rain turned it back into a water garden or actually a mud garden.

Then after a brief stint as a stick garden, we now have strawberries growing there. The sand underneath the 4 inches of compost that I added provides decent drainage so the zen garden wasn't a complete waste. The monks would be proud.

Posted by Anthony 12:07 PM 0 comments  

Labels: berries

Blackberries In Need Of A Trellis
5/22/2006

Yikes, those sticks that I put in the ground last year have turned into Blackberries. I'm a big fan of the Blackberry so I picked up one of those boxes from Costco that had 2 Raspberry and 2 Blackberries in it. It sat around for a month or two before I got it into the ground. I figured it was too late at that point and cursed my garden procrastination (always too much to do). But at the end of the season one blackberry plant had a couple of green leaves on it.

This year is a different story. These cane are shooting up all over the place. Since berries only grow on old wood, I'm already excited about next year's berries.

But I must build a trellis quickly before the thing is crawling on the ground and into my neighbors yard.

Posted by Anthony 12:34 AM 0 comments  

Labels: berries