Deer like to sample my new canes and leaves. I spotted the first ground squirrel tonight, so I put traps out for it. Last year, they ate all of my gooseberries before I could get one. And I saw the first red necked cane borer this weekend. There’s always something trying to eat your plants and fruit. 
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Yeah, I think they munched on my Anne rasp in the winter, or it might have been a rabbit. I’m pretty sure they hit a couple of my Triple Crown sprouts that came up in April. I covered them with milk crates until they could recover. They look good now.
I have 12 rasps, 9 blackberry, and 4 gooseberry plants, and my worry is that I can’t cover all my berry plantings or enclose them in fencing. Most of them are in the yard within view of our house, but I can’t watch them 24/7. It’s frustrating knowing they may be OK today, but it only takes a couple of raids and I’m back to square one.
I guess I should have known this would have happened if I was going to try and grow fruit and veggies in a rural, wooded setting. I haven’t even had to deal with bugs and diseases yet as none of my trees are producing, nor most of the berry plants.
I guess I’ll just do what I can and hope I’ll get some stuff to enjoy before the varmints do.
Sorry for the rant…
OK, the strawberries are giving us a handful of fruit every day now. I picked these this morning for a breakfast snack. All of them except the large berry is an Earliglow. They’re still a bit tart, they prob could wait one more day to sweeten up more, but they’re hard to resist.
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Thanks for the preview Bob. 3 more weeks and I’ll have a plate like that!
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So, you have Earliglow too?
Yes, and Ozark Beauty, Allstar, and Tristar which is a great ever bearer, tastes similar to Earliglo just smaller. It’s nice getting a few strawberries all the way into October. But mostly Earliglo
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I almost picked Allstar, but went with Jewel instead. From what I’ve read Ozark Beauty makes a big berry?
When does Tristar start bearing? In June and then some the rest of the season?
The reason I’m asking is because we have a strawberry looking plant that’s encroaching into the current patch, but it’s not bearing anything yet, and I’m wondering if it’s an everbearer. My wife planted a bunch of them above the present patch two years ago that she got from family, and I’m wondering what type they are.
Yes Ozark Beauty makes BIG berries up here, and they come in a bit later than Earliglo which helps extend the season. Not as good of flavor IMO.
Tristar starts the same time as Earliglo and just keeps pumping out berries here all season into October. I’ve read that in hot areas they will stop producing in the worst of the summer heat. As far as your wife’s mystery berries, thats strange that they are not producing yet, pic?
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Some pix of our various berry plants
Osage blackberry, about 17" high
PA Freedom blackberry, about the same height.
Some bloobs from our Patriot plant!
A small bowl full of fresh strawbs!
All of the blackberries are doing great, but some of the raspberries are struggling. The Double Gold and Royalty sprouts have wilted and died, looks like. I’m assuming because of all the rain we’ve had. Some of the others have some leaves that are curled up or crispy on the edges. But, the ones like Killarney, Fall Gold and Mac Black are doing well.
Maybe the fact that there’s more wild blackberry plants thriving around here than rasps ought to be a sign on what grows best here.
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Beautiful!
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Hey, it’s a start. Funny, I don’t think birds are messing with our crop. I picked a cereal bowl full of them this morning. I’ve noticed the Earliglow’s don’t get real big, the largest are maybe 3/4" across, most are 1/2", whereas the Jewel are quite larger, on average.
They crawl under the edges of the nets
I just put up the netting for my row of blueberries tonight. I’m probably less than 2 weeks for some of them to turn ripe. I have a couple of rabbiteye varieties that produce late, so they will be hanging around for a while. My gooseberries are turning red, so probably another week for some for them. My black currants are still green but probably two weeks on them as well. Probably late June before I have any ripe blackberries.
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When are your gooseberries typically ready to pick? Do all of your varieties ripen about the same time? Ours are still way too tart right now.
Are you about a month from your floricane raspberries being ready?
Those are some determined boids! I don’t have anything on our plants. The only deterrent I have is the fishing line fence for deer. We had some damage to maybe 5 plants last week, but nothing before or since (knocking on wood). After a slow start, they are giving us quite a few berries each day. Plus, they are shooting out runners like crazy. Provided they survive any browsing next year’s crop ought to be yuge.
I will say this: when I find one of them stuck in the net, I don’t rush to the rescue
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Gooseberries and Currants are usually ready in early to mid June. Blackberries and raspberries usually late June and through July. This year is trending about 2 weeks later than normal due to the k=long, cold Spring.
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Just picked 15 Tristar Everbearing strawberries this morning. Medium sized but very tasty. They lasted about 10 seconds with my kids.
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the first PAF berry I tasted came off a plant I gave to my parents. my own PAFs get less sun, so their fruiting lags a bit, but a couple berries blackened during the last week and seem to have grown significantly larger during that time. the remainder seem several weeks from ripening.
quite excited to taste berries I nurtured. not sure how the math will work out for my first but meager crop: two berries for my wife and two kids.
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