The raspberries are in! *2015 Edition*

[Mixolydian]

Let's talk about berries.

 

[Riverhound777]

Uhg I feel like I have seeds stuck in my teeth just looking at them. So good, yet so annoying.

 

[Mixolydian]

Uhg I feel like I have seeds stuck in my teeth just looking at them. So good, yet so annoying.

even the greatest things in life have drawbacks.

 

[sdifox]

These were not the raspberries I was looking for.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Wow, flashback to summers when I was like 12-15 or so. Neighbors had a shitload of raspberry bushes, red, black and golden. We used that yard to play cards, every few hands get up and pick another cupful to eat.

 

[Mixolydian]

Wow, flashback to summers when I was like 12-15 or so. Neighbors had a shitload of raspberry bushes, red, black and golden. We used that yard to play cards, every few hands get up and pick another cupful to eat.

Got 5 additional plants this year (2 different cultivars, one summer bearing and one everbearing) but it will be another year or two before they produce anything. So worth it.

 

[Jeeebus]

Raspberries don't do so well down here, but the mangoes are in full swing.

I lost count, but I want to say we have somewhere around 15 - 18 mango varieties in the yard (3 varieties represented by that picture). Bunch of blueberries and mulberries also ripening up right now. Hundreds of baby star fruit on the trees but those won't be ready for a couple months or so. I've pretty much planted the yard out to have fruit every month.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Ranier cherries and the less excellent but still delicious red cherries in season here.

 

[Mayne]

does jam count from my store?

 

[sdifox]

Raspberries don't do so well down here, but the mangoes are in full swing.

I lost count, but I want to say we have somewhere around 15 - 18 mango varieties in the yard (3 varieties represented by that picture). Bunch of blueberries and mulberries also ripening up right now. Hundreds of baby star fruit on the trees but those won't be ready for a couple months or so. I've pretty much planted the yard out to have fruit every month.

send me a bushel of atoulfos

 

[eldorado99]

Strawberries and Blueberries are better.

 

[Mixolydian]

Strawberries and Blueberries are better.

Planted 50 strawberry plants about a month ago and they're just starting to get fruit.

Also bought two blueberries but they're very finicky.

 

[eldorado99]

Planted 50 strawberry plants about a month ago and they're just starting to get fruit.

Also bought two blueberries but they're very finicky.

Yeah blueberries take several years to really get going.

 

[Mixolydian]

Yeah blueberries take several years to really get going.

not only that but very picky about soil conditions.

 

[Kaido]

I recently picked up an Isi Whipped Creamer & have been gorging myself on berries & cream (homemade dairy-free whipped cream using coconut milk):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001U83TWW

Uses tiny NOS cartridges, which are unfortunately just under a buck a hit:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007JXR4

Sooooo good!

 

[Red Squirrel]

I have a sudden urge to go blueberry and raspberry picking now. Pretty sure none of those things are out yet though. We barely even have a summer so far.

 

[clamum]

Oh man, raspberries are the best. Just a bit more epic than blackberries.

 

[Blitzvogel]

Damn birds picked most of my blackberries and all my strawberries before they got a chance to ripen. Finally got some bird netting last week and I have one big blackberry ready to pick, and few more growing. The strawberries, we have 4 plants packed into a 2 ft x 8 inch x 6 inch container. Had I known they couldn't be packed so much, I wouldn't have gotten 4 of them. One is thriving and the other 3 are barely hanging on. Go figure. Will probably get another same size planter to keep them two to a container.

Once the 2 weeks of constant rain let up here in central Texas, we put our barely alive and tiny cucumber plant with a single leaf in a slightly bigger container, and coupled with tons of sun and water, it has bounced back into a freaking beast growing literally multitudes bigger and the two first substantial fruit are literally doubling in size every two days it seems.

Cherry tomato plant is doing much better now that the sun is out too, as it's at least doubled in size the past couple weeks. There are a bunch of tiny fruits coming in, but after discovering the Sweet Million and Baxter's Bush varieties, I might have to switch. I don't know what variety ours is but the last batch I picked a couple weeks ago had tough skin and a funny taste.

We have everything in containers and pots since we live in an apartment. I decided to copy someone else in the complex with a much better outdoor potted veggie garden and use beer bottles as watering devices instead of those damn water bulbs my fiancee has.

 

[Jeeebus]

send me a bushel of atoulfos

Don't think ataulfo mangoes grow well in Florida. Only real see them at grocery stores imported from Mexico and they are fairly nasty. Not sure I've ever seen an ataulfo mango tree for sale at a legit Florida nursery.

 

[sdifox]

Don't think ataulfo mangoes grow well in Florida. Only real see them at grocery stores imported from Mexico and they are fairly nasty. Not sure I've ever seen an ataulfo mango tree for sale at a legit Florida nursery.

the middle one in your picture is ataulfo...

 

[nageov3t]

my parents had an excess of raspberries... I heated them up on the stove with a tablespoon of water and a dash of sugar until they started releasing the juices, and they're now steeping in a large jar of vodka along with a sliced up apple.

I'll probably let it sit for a month before straining it and re-packaging it in nicer bottles.

 

[skyking]

My wife's car does not have GPS, yet it seems to automatically go to the berry farms this time of year
We get ras and straws from Picha's farm stand.
http://www.pichafarms.com/
I used to pick up van loads of strawberries from their dad 'back in the day' and re-sell them across the cascades in berry poor eastern Washington. We had a ras farm over there.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Nice, OP.

Only two year old stalks produce right? So do you get berries every year, but on different two year old stalks? My raspberry bush vined several feet up a lattice last year, but then basically looked dead through Fall and Winter to so I cut it. Apparently that was a mistake and it would have come back to produce this year? Also, do you bother cutting down/thinning out the number of stalks so the plant puts more energy into the fruit?

I get more strawberries than I know what to do with. I should learn to make jam. As it is I either eat them before they go bad, dehydrate them as snacks or make a strawberry-rhubarb pie.

 

[Mixolydian]

Nice, OP.

Only two year old stalks produce right? So do you get berries every year, but on different two year old stalks? My raspberry bush vined several feet up a lattice last year, but then basically looked dead through Fall and Winter to so I cut it. Apparently that was a mistake and it would have come back to produce this year? Also, do you bother cutting down/thinning out the number of stalks so the plant puts more energy into the fruit?

I believe that is correct about 2 yr canes. I also cut back/thin out canes every spring before they start growing again. Proper pruning is essential for maximum production.

 

[Jeeebus]

the middle one in your picture is ataulfo...

umm, no. It's a rosigold mango. Calling it an ataulfo is akin to the media calling every gun an ak-47.