Well figured out why my tayberries taste like boysenberry. There mislabeled from Raintree. The four I bought locally in pots to replace some that died are true to type. Ugh! So disappointed, well it happens. At least I didn’t wait several years for a fruit tree. Will dig them up this weekend and I still have two in pots I was trying to figure out what to do so…
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Strawberries are at their peak right now. Later than last year but they are liking the cool weather. I’ve been picking every other day and getting 7-8 lbs per harvest.
Had a few whoppers, I believe these were Cabots and weighed over 2 ozs each. Five year old daughters hands for scale
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what the heck you feeding them!
Here are the first blackberries of the year, 2 Natchez and 1 Osage. Osage is very sweet compared to Natchez, but Natchez beats it in productivity in my yard.
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I only fertilized them once early spring with a “strawberry food” fertilizer. It’s high phosphorus at 10-52-17. Other than that the weather has been cool and wet so maybe they have been liking that.
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Boysenberry, blueberry and newberry ready to pick again. Kotata had a few berries black but just not ripe enough. My Columbia giant and sikiyou Columbia star next to my blueberry row had some but most about 90% were bird pecked. Birds are going nuts trying to get to my blueberry and feasting what’s next to them out of five plants not one has survived bird damage a handful of siskyou. Ok flavor will keep the four plants but want to remove a few Columbia star to make room for more newberry.
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Just began to pick my first Blackberries today, Natchez, Ouachita and Osage. Just a handful today, and while very dark they could have used another day on the bush to sweeten up, but it looks like a great year for them. After a week of hard rains it was a sunny break to walk the garden, a break of just about 2 hrs before the hard rains returned to drop another 2 inches, it’s wet wet wet here. I’ve got a nest of loud, protective Cardinals raising 3 young right in the middle that have kept the trellised Blackberries completely bug free while not bothering the fruit at all. I’ll gladly take that help!
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Yeah those are monsters! Looks like fused berries. What kind are you growing?
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I had a chance to evaluate The Archer strawberry. The first full year. They are good, and big, although many others are too! I’m not that impressed. I have found though the 2nd and 3rd years are about the best. Berries seem to be sweeter, and bigger. So I’ll give Archer another year. I still have no plans to get rid of them. Not bad for 1st year berries. A decent harvest too.
The Strasberry is interesting although no better than others. Seeds appear deeply indented, and it’s a deep red. Not bad! Oval shape.
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I only planted my strawberries this year and I let some ripen. So far I’ve tasted Jewel, Flavorfest and Earliglow. From my tiny sample, Flavorfest and Earliglow handily beat Jewel in the flavor department. AC Valley Sunset has yet to ripen.
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my indigo gem haskap are just starting to ripen. tried a few today but they need about a week to ripen further. treat and aurora are still green. should get a couple quarts this year. going to have a great crop of evie 2 this summer. the ac wendy i put in in may are all flowered. i should be pinching them but decided to let them fruit. my alpines are full of flowers and some small fruit too.
Some wild wineberries tonight (and a few Apache blackberries). Such an intense taste for these admittedly invasive “wild red raspberries”.
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That may change. For me Jewel needed some time. It didn’t stand out till the 2nd year. First year berries even first full season berries are not always the best with some cultivars. I never tasted the ones you mention are better though. When I need more I’ll try them. Every cultivar I have now tastes good to me. Many were tart, but are not now, very sweet. It really made a difference the plants being established. I can see why they say to remove berries the year you plant, they suck compared to established plants.
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After the first two picking of strawberries during a sunny interval, we have had more rain than dry days since. My strawberries tasted watery and mold started to settle in.
The last few batches of picking, we made strawberry sauce, a simpler, lazier way of making use of strawberries that do not taste good for fresh eating.
The sauce came out well. We now make our neighbors and friends happy with jars of strwaberry sauce,
Years ago I got tired if picking small earliglo and related strawberries, so replanted the bed a few years ago with cultivars known for larger berries. The ones I went with were Cavendish, Cabot, honeoye, and jewel. They are somewhat intermingled now but I believe those were Cabots, at least the fan shaped one is. There are many more like that but that one was the biggest.
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This was from yesterday, but another 15lbs harvested, bringing the total up to 41lbs so far this year. Still plenty more out there, but I think heat we are finally seeing is going to start shutting them down.
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Makes sense as they are supposed to be huge berries. Mine too are all kinda mixed up. I don’t have as many plants as you, I probably get about 15 pounds. I have been drying the extras. Lot’s of work prepping them all! I like them dried a lot too, just snack on them anytime.
Maybe it will change, that’d be welcome! I will add that the Flavorfest had a flavor that almost seemed like koolaid to me. It wasn’t expected but I was fine with it. Both Flavorfest and Earliglow had “intense” flavor, by strawberry standards. Jewel was watery in comparison to those two. Based on my tiny first year sample, if I was to grab runners and start a new bed I’d plant Earliglow and Flavorfest, and skip Jewell.
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I grew Cabots for a while but never noticed any really oversized berries.
In the meantime, my row of Earliglow - first to start - is still producing!
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