The blueberries are starting to rev up their production.
We had a couple of windy days during the crucial blossom time, and the blueberries lost a lot of flowers. Still, I can't imagine how much more they could produce than what they're putting out now.
Some are so thick, they almost look like grape clusters.
But the whole enclosure (blueberries + four peach trees) was getting overgrown with grass. Here's the view of the blueberries:
And the peach trees:
So Don and I pulled away the cattle panels protecting the plants, and Don revved up the weed-whacker.
By the time he was done, things looked much better.
Interestingly, Don attended a gardening seminar last year run by a woman whose gardening skills are a local legend. Her one bugaboo? Blueberries. She simply couldn't get good results with blueberries. That's the one area I'm not having problems.
Last year, we harvested sixteen pounds of blueberries. The year before that (when the bushes were juuuust starting to produce) we got a modest one pound. This year? Who knows. My guess is twenty pounds. Check back in September and we'll see if I'm close.
I always get a kick from the fact that blueberry flowers look like blueberries! I can't think of any other plant where that's true.
ReplyDeleteThese look great. Two weeks ago I went to a berry farm to pick (Florida, so the berries ripen sooner) and yours look very lush.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure how best to share this. My wife ran across this on Facebook from user Yummy Best Recipes - 🚨Just a little warning for all who are canning pickles or anything using vinegar.
ReplyDeleteThis year you cannot just grab a plastic jar of vinegar or even pickling vinegar without checking the label. Safe pickling requires 5% acidity....for the first time we are seeing 4% acidity vinegar... on the shelves. That renders anything pickled in the 4% NOT shelf stable. There are several canning FB pages where everyone is warning ...for the first time ever...to check those labels or you could be throwing out many jars of unsafe pickled veggies.
I thought you might like to share.
Southern Middle TN here. My blueberries are just finishing up. We had wonderful cool and wet weather this spring and mine looked like yours do now. I am still harvesting big fat berries. I also enjoyed your puff pastry blueberry tart recipe. Here is a recipe I enjoy:
ReplyDelete24 oz lowfat cottage cheese
2 3oz boxes berry blue Jello
3 to 4 cups blueberries
8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
8 oz carton of CoolWhip
Mix Jello and cottage cheese together.
Add blueberries and pineapple. Mix well.
Fold in CoolWhip until well blended.
Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.
Then serve immediately.
Leftovers do not keep well. So eat it all.
Right away !!
Our soil is mostly clay, heavy, and can get waterlogged. I gave up on ever having blueberries. Then a few years ago, I needed to make extra room in our freezer, so I took out some of the older frozen blueberries. We had some elderly hens and a rooster in a portable pen (to protect them from predators), so I took some of the frozen blueberries out to them. This soil was very sandy and, since there were lots of pine trees, also acidic. The chickens and little songbirds had a feast and, a couple years later, I said to myself "those look like some small blueberry bushes!" Sure enough, next year, I had a blueberry bush that bore a few blueberries. Next year, I noticed a couple more plants coming up that, although they did not bloom or bear, looked a LOT like blueberries. This year those plants are about 2 years old and are covered with blueberries. Blueberries are spreading into the pine timberlands, so I'll mark some plants to dig when the weather gets cooler (don't want to step on any timber rattlers).
ReplyDeleteA couple of my bushes are planted in a spot I once thought would be convenient but out of the way. They are now inconvenient to this old lady and I haven't been watering them. Some of the branches are still reachable, so some do get picked, just nowhere near all.
ReplyDeleteIt has been very hot and dry lately and my watered bushes have plump fruit. The out of the way berries are ripening small and hard. I also think the heat is causing it to happen too fast.
So water those blueberries. A few days of no rain can turn into a draught quickly.
After what a previous writer posted I may just harvest the small hard berries and put them in the freezer to use as seed to grow new bushes.
We've been watering our blueberries with some A/C vinegar mixed with water. The plants seem to like the acidity and they're looking good. Berries not blue yet but soon-week or so-we can start picking here in SW Idaho.
ReplyDelete