Last year, if you recall, we harvested just short of 60 lbs. of blueberries.
This year, if the current crop of blossoms are anything to go by, the harvest may exceed last year's.
Some blossoms are clustered so thickly, they seem like they'll resemble grape clusters when ripe.
While I've seen some honeybees among the flowers, the primary pollinators are bumblebees. We have hundreds.
Picking won't commence until early July or so, and then the harvest will be spread over several weeks.
Last year, with so many berries, we ended up giving a lot of them away. I gave about 20 lbs. of frozen berries to our very nice UPS driver (whose wife also cans). Also I brought a bunch of canned blueberries to church and gave them away, the only stipulation being that people return the canning jars when they were finished.
I was speculating to Younger Daughter how many pounds of berries we might get this year, and she had a very good suggestion: Why not try making blueberry wine? Don gave me a winemaking kit a few years ago, just before we moved, and I haven't had a chance to use it yet.
I have a feeling I know where most of this year's blueberry crop might go.
Carpenter bees pollinated my blueberries this year, and some are already ripening.
ReplyDeleteThings down here in the south have been happening weeks earlier this year.... maybe even a month.
Dogwood bloomed way early, and right after that I was driving and noticed the Mountain Laurel blooming as well. Usually it blooms a month after the Dogwood. And the Honeysuckle. Wild blackberries are already ripening, even though it is way cooler than usual.
And, unfortunately, the dreaded lubbers hatched a month early too. Last year there were so few it emboldened me to go ahead and plant stuff early this year. They much prefer to eat from human labor than the wild greenery around. I hate them for that and because they are so hard to kill. I have found that what makes me least squeamish is to put a heavy rock on top of them and fire ants will kill them. The only use I have for fire ants. They also will die if you cover them in place with a jar. Ugh.
Back to the blueberries. I would love to get rid of the carpenter bees, but it's so wooded that won't happen. Like all pests, they prefer to eat my house to the trees in spite of treated wood or paint. But now the blueberries are coming along, and pears, and strawberries, it's time to go to war with the bees.
The next pollinators coming along will be guinea wasps.
By the sweat of our brows we will eat. But God didn't warn of insects from hell.
My (late) mother planted a lot of blueberries, planning for a you-pick operation. She died while her blueberries were still young. My (retired) middle brother lives there now, taking care of the place. My youngest brother may move there to rural Georgia from a big city in the midwest when he retires in three years. After brother made some really wonderful blueberry wine, I told him to put every blueberry into winemaking. It really is that good.
ReplyDeleteI didn't notice the giant grasshoppers but that is probably because I have way too many chickens running around loose. I have to put my garden in a cage.
ReplyDeleteHi Patrice, we just planted 2 blueberry bushes, our first ever try. They are small, from Guernsey, and we're wondering if you have simple tips to get them to take root. I hear maybe wood ash?
ReplyDeleteBefore planting, I would recommend digging your hole and adding a generous amount of peat moss (which is acidic), then settling in the plants. Keep those weeds under control! You can use weed cloth anchored with gravel or some other mechanism, but control those weeds.
DeleteWood ash is not recommended for blueberries because it makes the soil more alkaline, and blueberries prefer acidic soil. Stick to peat moss instead.
Once the blueberries are planted, sprinkle a bit of azalea fertilizer around them (not too much!). Azaleas are another acid-loving plant, so you can use the fertilizer on blueberries as well.
- Patrice
We mostly have bumble bees pollinating here as well. The few neighbors that I know of with honey bee hives no longer have them.
ReplyDeleteYou can also use pine needles around blueberry bushes for the acidity.
Personally, I don't like wine. However, I feel it would be
something you can enjoy with your own harvest. Plus when you are on a tight budget it is nice to have something to indulge in once in a while after a long day on the homestead.
My husband would home-brew beer.
Debbie in MA