Time for an update

Well the picking season stretched out more than I would have liked. With all the rain the plants have grown spectacularly and there is a lot of plant to deal with when you are trying to find the berries! In many cases I pruned as I picked so that we could get at the berries but also to get between the plants. The Japanese nursery was the worst since these plants are on a 5 or 6 ft. square planting and nearly filled in the space between. As this picture shows, getting through was nearly impossible. Where I had put the netting over the rows in the larger nursery, the plants and the weeds grew up through the netting and it was difficult to remove the netting. We finally just quit picking and the rest is for the Robins and Cedar Waxwings. There are about 35 lbs. of individually frozen berries in the freezer .

I have also come to the conclusion that I cannot handle so many plants so this summer and fall there is going to be a huge renovation job as I pull/dig all the unselected plants. So far I have selected about 7 plants from anything that is 3 years old or older and the rest will be destroyed. There are still about 80 plants in the ground which need one more year for a chance to produce fruit. One of the unique berries I found is shaped somewhat like a banana and is good flavoured. This one I think could be a great home grower as it is so easy to harvest. I just need to be sure of a pollinator for it. Probably any Russian source will work good. This picture was from June when they were still growing. So lots of work ahead. Then there are the pots from last year and this year waiting to be planted out. Another big job to be done. No site for these yet but maybe once I have pulled all the others that I have planned to pull there will be some room. I have come to the conclusion that the Polish source berries are quite strong flavoured so there may be more room next year once I can cull them out as well.

These seedlings have done very well in the shade of the greenhouse. Nice and tall which is very good. You can see they have company as I have started daylilies, clematis, and even weeds in the pots. The weeds need to go!

I have not heard any reports as to how people have done with their berry crops, particularly EBH so if you are dropping in to read please leave a comment and I will publish it up front (as well as in the comments) so people get a sense of how things are going with EBH.

So far I have collected seed from 2 plants which I will carry on to further testing. I have also collected berries from plants that I want to extract seed from but did not get them done yet.
For the first time I am seeing volunteer plants around the nurseries. This is not really surprising as this year every seed seems to be growing. Lots of apple and chokecherry seedlings in areas where I have not tilled. Some may get saved for planting out in other spots. I left a large part of our front yard to grow out and it is amazing the plants that are there when they get a chance to grow. Even a sucker from a wild plum which is about 10 feet away.
So until next time, happy berry picking!