Time for Berries

ripening black berries

The blackberries usually start ripening the first weekend in June.  This year we had such a long cool spring that they are just now starting to turn ripe.  A welcome sight, none the less.   Last year we lost all but a meager amount of berries due to a snow storm on May 4^th that killed all the blooms.   This year I used wobbler sprinklers to protect the blooms from freeze and frost damage.  I’m so glad it worked.   It will be a good blackberry year.  The berries I grow come from wild berries.  They are smaller than the domestic varieties but the flavor is exceptional and the seeds are so tiny that they are not a problem.  This year because of the spring rains and cool temps the berries are a little bigger than usual.   They sure taste good. I have a load of them to pick but the rewards are great.  They'll ripen over the next three or so weeks.  So I'll be picking everyday for a while.

Plato patrolling amber raspberry bushes

The amber raspberry rows are cleaned and growing great guns.  Most berries are floracanes  which means that the new canes that grow this year will have fruit next year.  However, these amber raspberries are primacane which means that the new canes that grow this year will bear fruit this year.  Usually this means fruit in August.  

baby amber raspberries

But you can see in this photo that there is fruit forming already this year.  This is a good thing because the plants will keep producing until they are killed this Fall by frost.   And these amber raspberries are as sweet as candy.  OoooWeee!  They’re good.  Well, not yet, but they will be.  And it looks like I won't have to wait much longer to try them this year.  My guess is that it will end up being a bumper crop.

winter killed canes makes me a little sad

The red raspberries I grow are floracanes.  Last year’s canes winter killed real badly as you can see.  We had a bunch of nights with temps below negative 10 F.  this last winter.  There will be a few berries lower down on some of the canes.  But most of these plants are growing great quantities of new canes since they are not producing much fruit.   I’ll have to thin them out quite a bit.  I'll only expect a small taste of these berries this year.

baby purple raspberries

The purple raspberries did a little better though they have a ways to go before they are ripe.  They had some winter kill but will at least produce enough of a crop for picking and eating and maybe a little for the freezer.  They usually are ripe the same time as the blackberries.  This year it looks like they will ripen toward the end of the blackberry season.

baby concord grapes

Besides the berries I also have a couple of grape vines. The grapes won’t be ripe untill the end of summer but the vines are loaded.   Fresh grape juice is worth waiting for.  And now that I have Plato I get to eat the grapes instead of the wild turkeys getting them all.  Good Dog.

 I reckon I better get back out there and pick more blackberries.