ha! they must be early birds. 
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My chipmunks here eat green strawberries. The only patch not hit is where a big black snake likes to hunt! That saves my Sunshine Blue berries from everything too, lol. I don’t even have to net that area.
Well, I don’t what’s getting into the patch, but I went out there this morning and only found a couple ripe berries. I doubt the Jewel row is done producing, it’s only been putting out ripe berries for less than two weeks.
sounds about right, 2 weeks is about the window for most June bearers
had my PAF which are z5 rated, covered with straw and burlap were under alot of snow this winter and i thought they had made it when i uncovered them in spring but they all died. i m removing them and planting a wild variety called canadian or smooth blackberry i found wild last summer. they’re nearly thornless and grow a berry about the size of a large raspberry but like you, no commercial blackberries grow up here and i know these wild ones are at least z3 hardy .finally ill have some blackberries. ate some off these bushes last sept. and they’re very good. what they lack in size they make up for in volume. according to the plant database they’re hardy to the arctic circle and grow west out to ontario.
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Is that all, two weeks? I thought it’d be at least a month, although I don’t know where I got that figure. Oh well, with all the runners this year, the crop next year should be prodigious.
Bumper crop in my little June bearing strawberry patch. Patch is basically 12’ x 12’ this is the 2nd picking. Probably one more of this size left in 2 or 3 days.! Had to net it this year the (&*&^! robins were trying to eat them all.
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Besides a few Haskap berries,Mulberries and Tayberries,these Northline Serviceberries on this little bush are the earliest things ripening right now.Tasty. Brady
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My little Northline has a few on it, not ripe yet. it is supposed to be one of the better service berries Good to hear it’s edible! It’s all about strawberries here, some honeyberries. Indigo Treat. The first berries that fell off were very tart with little flavor. The ones still on the bush are much better, still tart but very rich. learning the quirks of these, with Treat this early drop might as well be left to drop. The bush is in a container and it seems to suck water. the ground would be better, but easier to harvest in the container. Although the container may be why it dropped berries early. I will put it in a larger container.
At first they were leaving them alone, but today they were going after them, so me too! I netted my patch 12x4 I have them all over so they will get some. I netted 3 areas.
contributing to my learning curve, I picked a few not-quite-ripe PAF berries today. one had some dark red coloration but on the side facing away from me, so I didn’t see the redness till I passed the point of no return. another tell was that the fruit didn’t separate easily from the torus—a little bit of tugging was required.
the others were black but a little shiny; I should have waited till the drupes were dull black.
the berries were sour, like store-bought BBs. and there was a strange aftertaste, presumably that u of arkansas aftertaste some have discussed. that aftertaste wasn’t present in the fully ripe PAF fruit I had last week.
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To get an idea of when to pick, let a couple rot. Take notes. After awhile it becomes easy to tell, but the urge to pick early seems to never go away. So you pick them early every season at first! I think it’s a law? 
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Strawberries are done here and it is time for someone to start picking these Prelude raspberries! Such a reliable variety! Maybe not be the sweetest, but good flavor, especially for culinary use, and with SWD coming it is great to eat these early berries right out of the garden without fear of a wormy surprise.
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mine are western serviceberry and are loaded right now but still a few weeks away from ripening.
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Yambu strawberry is showing promise - for next year, looking better than Rutgers
One good thing is - while I have them on the ground this year, not plastic, I haven’t seen any rot or mold. I’ve been acidifying the water I use to mix Captan, it seems to have worked
I making a few berry crosses, and well the first went poorly, two strawberries. The berry failed to form. The pollen may be incompatible? Raspberries went a little better. I crossed Cascade Gold with Josephine and the cross looks good. Only a few maybe 10? Drupes formed which indicates it’s a good cross. I kept other pollen out, and my hand pollinating numerous drupes one time, only got a few. I know I have a good cross though! Now to grow the seeds out once it ripens.
I did a few blackberry crosses too. Not doing much with berries. I’m drawn to stone fruit at the moment. having lost 3 peach seedlings I’m pissed and gonna get 3 more! Also I have some new (and old) pluots ripe and want to grow out seeds, Honey Punch, Nadia, Dapple Dandy, and others.
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i feel your pain. i lost both my nice 5ft goumi bushes over the winter. im done planting marginal hardy plants up here. they make it 2-3 yrs. then a real cold winter wipes them out!
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Peaches are hardy here, so it was some really bad luck. I agree with you though. Zone pushing in general sucks, yet some work, very few. Figs is an example that work for me,
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Three varieties of fresh blueberries! Each variety has its own distinct flavor: Reka = tart, Patroit = traditional blueberry flavor, and Ka-Bluey = hint of peach.
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I like the taste of the PAF’s but they can be spitters if they aren’t fully ripe! I finally got to where I wouldn’t even go out and look daily if they needed picking. Maybe every two days and sometimes every three.
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