Thought I'd start a berry themed thread for those of us growing berries this year.

I've got black raspberries, a single barely surviving red raspberry, a top hat blueberry in a pot and random strawberries in a few places. Those are what survived from last year.

This year I'm adding 2 more small blueberry plants, more white Carolina pineberry (and some red ever bearing strawberries to pollinate them), and possibly some container friendly raspberry and blackberries.

Potted a bunch up yesterday and today but it's too chilly at night so they are taking over the kitchen table. There's 4 little black raspberries in there along with the 2 blueberries and 21 strawberries (white and red). My sister's goats ate her raspberry plants last year so I tip rooted mine. She's getting 2 and my aunt is getting 2.


What berries do you grow?

I'm growing Quinault strawberries. Lots of green berries right now.

Nice. I'm honestly not sure what most of my strawberries are since I buy them as started plants from people thinning their patches. Pretty sure I've got ones from 4-5 sources. Last year I lost a lot of strawberries to rot and bugs since it was so wet. This year I'm planning on putting down a nice layer of straw to save the berries. As long as I get enough for a few pies and some jam, I'll be happy.

I have a bunch of June bearing strawberries out there, but no sign of live yet. I don't know if I killed them or not.

I think I'm done buying berry plants for the year. Just picked up these 3 today. Might put the raspberry and blackberry in this raised bed.

If memory serves right blackberries and raspberries cannot not be planted close together Let me see if I can find an article on it.

And it appears they can be planted close together. Just one of those comments I heard that stuck apparently.

Not too bad for under $60 (4 are black raspberries I dug from my patch to give to my sister and aunt). 3 blueberries, 1 raspberry (not counting the 4 I dug), 1 blackberry, and the rest are a mix of red and white strawberries.


I can't wait for our new siding so I can plant the majority in the ground and the rest in a few pots.

Less than $60 well spent!

Not sure how these will work here, but I have started black Goji berries from seeds.
The red ones are hardy in sheltered spots here.
Always must do some experimentation!

Caroline!

Moved my berries from the table to a mini greenhouse outside. It will some sun during the day but not a ton. Hopefully I can get them in the ground next weekend (I've got Friday off).

My daughter and I grow Bristol Black raspberries, Latham raspberries, and Wild black berries that she transplanted from the wild. Also Blueberries. Attached picture is the Blueberry raised bed. 3rd year. (After pruning)
I regularly apply a layer of used coffee grounds on the surface every early spring. They seem to love it.
They do like the soil more acid than normal. I think this helps, but I apply additional acidification.
I always prune the berries every late winter/early spring. That was done 2 weeks ago.
We fertilize with liquid fish fertilizer diluted as per instructions and it seems to work very well.

I'll have to keep that in mind for my blueberries. I think I built them decent acidic soil but we'll have to see how they do this year. I've got 4 in total now: top hat, jelly bean, berry bux, and northland. They all supposedly stay under 4 feet (most about 2 feet). I've got 4 black raspberry plants (and 4 new starts I dug up for my sister), 1 red raspberry (maybe heritage) and possibly a runner sent from it (1 or both might be given to my sister), a raspberry shortcake (dwarf raspberry) and baby cakes blackberry (dwarf BlackBerry). Black raspberries are my favorite and birds generally leave them alone. I don't know how many strawberries, or what kind, I've got (for the most part) but hopefully they'll do well this year. Going to try both in ground and in pots.

I started the Blueberry raised bed with bagged soil, dead leaves, and a bale of peat moss. I added some Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier, I found locally.
(Picture attached).
When I built the garden for my daughter I fenced it in because they have a lot of deer nearby. The fence actually worked out great for the raspberries and black berries because we can tie the new canes to the fence and they do well. Some of the prolific ones grow about 10-12 feet and we just run it sideways along the fence.
(Picture attached from the very end of the season last year).
Actually black raspberries are our favorite too.
I thought the raised beds would control the underground runners from going crazy, but they still do manage to pop up the the pathways.

This is my first year growing berries. I ordered a pack of 25 Quinault strawberry bare roots, and 3 Caroline raspberry and 3 Nova raspberry bare root plants from Park Seed. The strawberries will go in a raised bed, and the raspberries in a row nearby. Hoping for the best!

I'm growing Quinaults too. They're very sweet and not hard at all. Best wishes for your berry garden!

Pretty sure I drowned all my bare root Carolina berries. something is going on with some of my potting soil. It's holding way too much water. Guess I'll have to see if I can find any live plants for sale. I did find some nicer looking strawberry plants at ace hardware today so I'm going back tomorrow with my coupon to buy some stuff. Also one of my black raspberry plant is definitely dead, but I'll just tip root another one in its spot.
I bought some grape hyacinth flowers and I'm wondering if they'd work to plant in my strawberry beds? That's about the only full sun area I could plant them in.

An update to Blueberries and Raspberries. 4/14/21
Blueberries; cleaned bed, added coffee grounds, bone meal and acidifier, buds showing and plants looking good. (One picture showing bone meal around plants before it is mixed in to the first 1-2 inches of soil, as is the acidifier.

Raspberries; cleaned any left over old dead wood, weeded and mulched. We made a 2nd bed so that the runners could come up to make more Latham raspberry plants. We now have ten new canes coming up. (Seen bottom photo on the left)

Unexpected development in my raspberry patch. A cardinal has built a nest in it and laid 2 eggs. I guess my method of trellising made the canes sturdy enough.

That is precious.