berry patch

[Suess]

I have to tell someone who will be as excited as me. I ordered berry plants from gurney's. And I have created the area for them to grow in. I will be finishing up my fence around it this week
I am creating a whole other area of the yard. Fence to keep dogs out of it. And separate from the chickens since they like berries as well....and I am not sharing this year!

 

[TanksHill]

I am very excited for you. A berry patch has been on my list for years. What did you order and what type of exposure will the plants have? I really need some plants that will do well with heat and sun. Any recommendations? I planted Doyle's thorn less blackberry two years ago and have never seen a berry. My cains continually die every year. I have new growth in ground but I have heard the berries only grow on 2nd year cains. What am I doing wrong???

 

[beavis]

I have had good luck with blackberries, not so much with raspberries and boysenberries which the gophers took care of:

Blackberries:

Pathetic Raspberries and Boysenberries:

 

[TanksHill]

You know i never even thought about the gophers. bet that's why my vines keep dying. Once they get gong I bet the gophers eat the roots. Duhhh. I had a little pear tree fall over one day. No roots at all. I should have though of that.

 

[allabout]

That is great. My husband wants us to give strawberries a try. In my area we have several u-pick farms for the strawberries, I notice that they always plant the plants in rows of plastic so the leaves and berries will not be touching the ground. I think I would use straw...I don't know..but something to consider.

 

[curly_kate]

If you plant strawberries, make sure to plant A LOT! I grew them last year, and I think I bought 10 plants. All summer, my DH & I wondered why we weren't getting many berries. Turns out, the plants were doing just fine, we just needed about 5 times as many plants!

Seuss, I'll be curious to hear how they do. I read on Garden Watchdog that some times the quality of the plants is not always good, but they are SO CHEAP that I'm dying to buy from them. Plus, they give you those $25 off coupons on their catalogs!

 

[TanksHill]

I have a permanent strawberry bed in my yard. I call it the Kids garden. The plants usually survive year to year. In spring I weed, pinch new plants and move them around in the bed. Then mulch. I usually spring for cocoa shells on that one. something about strawberries and chocolate. Yum.

I never have enough berries to do anything. They usually don't make it into the house. The kids eat them all.

 

[Rosalind]

Yeah...I have a garden book that gives estimates of how many plants you need per person. Multiplied by 7, it's about right. 25 plants/person works out to just enough strawberries for cereal and occasional snacks in the summer, for a family that isn't that into strawberries. For jam, frozen, mixed drinks, shortcake, and a few left over for fresh eating and cereal, 175 plants per person oughtta do it. And yes, that estimate accounts for potting up runners for the occasional bed renovations and indoor growing--you'll need those too.

Naturalized berry patches and asparagus under fruit trees...oh, can't WAIT for spring...

 

[vfem]

We got gophers like crazy so I've buried chicken wire in our raised garden beds. And a foot down where our fence is going up. They cause more damage to your plants digging through roots then eating them. Horrid things!

Well, I'm happy for you... sounds like you put in a lot of work. Come back and share photos... its very inspiring!

 

[CityChook]

TanksHill, I like your story about the kids garden. We have a large raspberry patch that my kids adore. Whenever ANYONE stops by the house, they are out there with a bowl, collecting berries for our guest to eat on the road. Most never make it into the house here either. Man, they are GOOD!

Suess, good luck on your new garden. You're going to love it!