W00t! Blueberries Are In

[lxskllr]

Her answers 1) Will take $$ from the profits and 2) I don't want strangers on my property. Screw that, I say.

I can appreciate that POV. If she's making enough money, it gets everyone outside getting exercise, and it's good for tuning into nature. When you spend a lot of time outdoors you become more aware of your surroundings, and become more sensitive to change. Course, it's ass busting work. Not sure I'd be up for that, but I can appreciate it none the less.

 

[highland145]

I can appreciate that POV. If she's making enough money, it gets everyone outside getting exercise, and it's good for tuning into nature. When you spend a lot of time outdoors you become more aware of your surroundings, and become more sensitive to change. Course, it's ass busting work. Not sure I'd be up for that, but I can appreciate it none the less.

They can't take any time off. Animals have to be fed/milked. Eggs collected. Plants watered. It's a never ending cycle. I feel sorry for the kids.

Honey bees, too. Yummy.

 

[Rudee]

I love blueberries. I eat them until I shit blue. No joke.

 

[DrPizza]

Agree. My strawberry patch is in overdrive right now. For the last month I have been picking 1-2 pints each week of delicious sweet berries.

I have a raspberry bush that miraculously grew from nowhere. I think birds must have dropped some seeds and its going on its third year so far. I also know where there is roughly a 100x100 foot patch of wild black raspberry vines in the woods near my house. I've never seen that many raspberries growing in one place. Each season I make multiple visits and pick the vines clean of black raspberries. Last year, I picked enough to make 20-something pints of preserves which I ended up canning. With so much in my basement, I haven't had to buy jam/preserves in a year.

My blackberries are not doing so well with only minimal flowers. Last year was their first full season in the ground (the year before, I bought them in September in an end of season sale for $5 each which a steal; they went promptly in the ground and survived the winter), so this is technically their second season growing.

How many plants is a "patch"? I just purchased 100 plants to put in; I'm expecting a bit more than a pint or two a week for my efforts. Will probably put in another 100 next year. Did 500 a few years ago, but blundered. Never mix too fresh of compost in with the soil. Gone for 1 week of vacation & when I returned, the strawberry plants were completely overrun with weeds, and it was too big a project to afford the time for pulling all those weeds. Now, neat rows & a big backpack sprayer with 10% roundup are my friends.

 

[NetWareHead]

How many plants is a "patch"? I just purchased 100 plants to put in; I'm expecting a bit more than a pint or two a week for my efforts. Will probably put in another 100 next year. Did 500 a few years ago, but blundered. Never mix too fresh of compost in with the soil. Gone for 1 week of vacation & when I returned, the strawberry plants were completely overrun with weeds, and it was too big a project to afford the time for pulling all those weeds. Now, neat rows & a big backpack sprayer with 10% roundup are my friends.

Wow...you have quite the project going on there. My strawberry patch started from 5 plants 3 years ago planted in a rectangle shaped bed 5 feet by 15 feet. They spread via runners so I estimate I have between 30-40 plants today. I have had most success with the quinalt type of strawberry which is supposed to be ever bearing. I planted a variety of strawberries but the quinalt ones have been the most prolific, overpowered and killed the other strawberries, spread the furthest from home and produce normal sized sweet berries all season long to boot. I fertilize every 1 to 2 weeks with a fish emulsion based liquid fertilizer diluted with water.

I've found that trying to keep strawberries in a row is almost impossible. They are pretty invasive and want to spread out far beyond their original boundaries. If you dont want to weed, then you wont want to herd strawberries either, especially given the scale you intend to plant. I don't know of the effect of roundup on strawberries because I try to avoid chemicals like that. However, the surface area and semi-bushy nature of the leaves tends to shade and discourage most weeds where strawberry population is dense.

The first year the strawberries didnt produce many berries. We actually deadheaded them too by snipping off the flowers. We wanted the plants to establish themselves, grow good roots and survive the winter (we are in New Hampshire) instead of produce fruit. Year 2, the berry production was modest but nothing exciting and they continued to expand. This year, year 3 is the year that surprised us. The plants were the first to wake up from winter and had lush green growth and more runners with new plants in March! A month ago we started picking and picking and haven't stopped.