Plan For Bare Root Season Now (Blackberries)
Plan for bare root season now. No, I haven't gone daft. I do own a calendar. The best time to assess how your spring and summer garden did is right now, while things are fresh in your mind, and that evaluation process will help you plan what you'd like to try for next year. And the best time to plant deciduous fruit trees and berries is when they can be obtained bare root. Bare root offerings will arrive in January, it really isn't that far away.
How did your garden or orchard fare this year. If you are like me, some things were a raging success...others, not so much. My friend Jim Bishop, president of the San Diego Horticulture Society has a shrine to dead plants in his home. Hundreds of plant labels of those dear departed garden companions that are no longer with us. Some leave us when we wish they'd stay and thrive. Others we can no longer tolerate and we ask them to leave, and hasten their removal off the premises. But the whole process is necessary to being a good gardener. As a gardener, you will learn far more from your failures, than your successes.
I buy lots of plants: for myself, for others, for clients, for gifts, for experimentation. Most people would freak if they saw my annual plant bill. Hey, it's part of the process. I am forming a new garden from scratch. I planted 7 new berry plants I purchased from Walter Andersen's last January. THANK YOU Walter Andersen's for bringing in so many great things during bare root season! Please support you local independent nursery. If you don't give them your business, they will disappear.
So out of 7 berries: 4 blackberries and 3 raspberries, here are the results. I love raspberries, unfortunately, they don't love me. Actually I think they are rather fond of me, but aren't happy with where I choose to live. They don't like the weather, soil, lack of chill, and high ph of our soil and water. I had moderate success at best in the old garden with raspberries, but then again I had lots of room and could devote some space to them. The raspberries? Kaput. Dead. Gone. Never even lived past May. In the old garden I did have smashing success with blackberries, Smashing is not effusive enough. I felt like a professional blackberry farmer. They were tremendously hearty, easy growing, somewhat drought tolerant and bore gallons of fruit. And oh were they good. I had Triple Crown, Cherokee, and Black Satin. I also had a great Ollalieberry patch. They are huge berries, with a fairly large seed, more tart than regular blackberries, but so sublime made into Ollalieberry pie. A slice of Ollalieberry pie hot from the oven with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream is one of life's great pleasures.
Now for the results from the blackberry trials. Of the 4 remaining purchases. Boysenberry died. Normally pretty easy to grow, and made Walter Knott a rich and famous farmer just up the road a piece. But, my little bare root cutting didn't cut it. I have three survivors: Apache, Chester, and Kiowa.
These three are survivors, bless them. They didn't just survive, they have thrived. In fact they have gone from tiny one foot long, pathetic looking cuttings to large, vigorous, bearing vines. After just 9 months in the ground they need trellising and are covered with berries even as I speak. I look forward to a small fall crop. A small down payment on the bounty to look forward to in the future.
The best part? I had the first berry from Kiowa. It was large, round, plump, fragrant, juicy, brimming with that "only from the backyard, left on the plant till really ripe, can't buy this at the store" flavor. If you grow your own fruit, you know EXACTLY what I mean. One perfect berry. An amuse buche. A singularity of insanely delicious berry Nirvana. The best part? Almost no seed, very tiny and unobtrusive. I can't wait till next year. The only downside is the vicious thorniness of the vines, but after tasting this berry, it will be worth it.
If you want to grow blackberries, buy at least two, and make sure they pollinate each other. Give them rich well amended soil, plant them in full sun, and give them adequate water. Buy them bare root. I've found through the years that trees and berries planted from bare root do twice as well the first year than a counterpart from a nursery can. They will throw all their energy into YOUR soil, and not the can. Buy your bare root things as soon as they come in. I go in as soon as the shipment is put out for sale. The quality of the stock declines precipitously after the first week, Get in there and get the best offerings.
Happy gardening!
How did your garden or orchard fare this year. If you are like me, some things were a raging success...others, not so much. My friend Jim Bishop, president of the San Diego Horticulture Society has a shrine to dead plants in his home. Hundreds of plant labels of those dear departed garden companions that are no longer with us. Some leave us when we wish they'd stay and thrive. Others we can no longer tolerate and we ask them to leave, and hasten their removal off the premises. But the whole process is necessary to being a good gardener. As a gardener, you will learn far more from your failures, than your successes.
I buy lots of plants: for myself, for others, for clients, for gifts, for experimentation. Most people would freak if they saw my annual plant bill. Hey, it's part of the process. I am forming a new garden from scratch. I planted 7 new berry plants I purchased from Walter Andersen's last January. THANK YOU Walter Andersen's for bringing in so many great things during bare root season! Please support you local independent nursery. If you don't give them your business, they will disappear.
So out of 7 berries: 4 blackberries and 3 raspberries, here are the results. I love raspberries, unfortunately, they don't love me. Actually I think they are rather fond of me, but aren't happy with where I choose to live. They don't like the weather, soil, lack of chill, and high ph of our soil and water. I had moderate success at best in the old garden with raspberries, but then again I had lots of room and could devote some space to them. The raspberries? Kaput. Dead. Gone. Never even lived past May. In the old garden I did have smashing success with blackberries, Smashing is not effusive enough. I felt like a professional blackberry farmer. They were tremendously hearty, easy growing, somewhat drought tolerant and bore gallons of fruit. And oh were they good. I had Triple Crown, Cherokee, and Black Satin. I also had a great Ollalieberry patch. They are huge berries, with a fairly large seed, more tart than regular blackberries, but so sublime made into Ollalieberry pie. A slice of Ollalieberry pie hot from the oven with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream is one of life's great pleasures.
Now for the results from the blackberry trials. Of the 4 remaining purchases. Boysenberry died. Normally pretty easy to grow, and made Walter Knott a rich and famous farmer just up the road a piece. But, my little bare root cutting didn't cut it. I have three survivors: Apache, Chester, and Kiowa.
These three are survivors, bless them. They didn't just survive, they have thrived. In fact they have gone from tiny one foot long, pathetic looking cuttings to large, vigorous, bearing vines. After just 9 months in the ground they need trellising and are covered with berries even as I speak. I look forward to a small fall crop. A small down payment on the bounty to look forward to in the future.
The best part? I had the first berry from Kiowa. It was large, round, plump, fragrant, juicy, brimming with that "only from the backyard, left on the plant till really ripe, can't buy this at the store" flavor. If you grow your own fruit, you know EXACTLY what I mean. One perfect berry. An amuse buche. A singularity of insanely delicious berry Nirvana. The best part? Almost no seed, very tiny and unobtrusive. I can't wait till next year. The only downside is the vicious thorniness of the vines, but after tasting this berry, it will be worth it.
If you want to grow blackberries, buy at least two, and make sure they pollinate each other. Give them rich well amended soil, plant them in full sun, and give them adequate water. Buy them bare root. I've found through the years that trees and berries planted from bare root do twice as well the first year than a counterpart from a nursery can. They will throw all their energy into YOUR soil, and not the can. Buy your bare root things as soon as they come in. I go in as soon as the shipment is put out for sale. The quality of the stock declines precipitously after the first week, Get in there and get the best offerings.
Happy gardening!
Thank you soon much. This arrived JUST as i've started drawing up the berry wish list. Many of your suggestions for fruit trees are on my list as i convert some of the garden to fruit trees. I have never grown blackberries, in fact i spent some years (on a small farm in australia) trying to get rid of them! Do you have a preference for upright vs the more vining varieties? I can't work out the difference.
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