Re: Heidi - your berries

[Guest guest]

>You mentioned you are growing berries effortlessly on a shady hill,

>right? We have a similar situation and I've been wanting to grow

>berries here and have a few questions:

>

>1. What kind of berries are we talking?

Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and some weird wild hybrid.

Strawberries grow well too, but I don't weed them properly and the

slugs get them. Have to work on that. The bush berries seem to be

slug/snail proof. That is, they GET snails but they don't seem to

care, the berries are fine. We have a LOT of birds though, and I think

the birds eat a lot of the bugs.

The wild Himalayan berries will grow ANYWHERE but your neighbors

might take you to court if you plant them. They are about like kudzu.

Incredibly good berries though.

>2. If you grow blackberries do you have problems with snakes? I

>went to pick blackberries once, and I saw tons of snakeskins in the

>thorny areas. We've got an endless supply of water moccasins and

>I'm concerned about luring the up to the house with blackberry

>bushes.

Um. The only snakes we get in this area are garter snakes. They

do like our property, but the berry bushes are less dense than the

rest of the woods. For getting rid of snakes, I'd recommend peacocks.

They love to eat snakes.

If you have wild blackberries, you should trim them so they don't

have undergrowth. They produce better if you cut them WAY back

every year. I leave one shoot about 5' tall (out of a 30 foot vine)

for the winter, and it makes a little compact bush. That makes picking

easier too. Then the water moccasins have nowhere to hide.

>3. If you grow blueberries, did you just stick them in the ground

>without any soil prep? What I've been reading about blueberries

>makes me think they are picky about soil type/ph. We live on a pile

>of rocks and it would require a jack hammer to ammend soil where I

>want the berries.

What worked for them was ammonium sulfate (yeah, chemicals!). I think

it was only half a cup or so, sprinkled around them. They are a bit

pickier, if you want good yields. But around here anyway, they give

a fair yieid no matter what. The Gardening Encyclopedia has the exact

formula for feeding them. Our dirt is awful though, and they don't

seem to mind as long as they get the AS.

Most of the work I do with the berries is trying to keep them weed-free.

The chickens do that if I work it right (scatter their feed under the

bushes, before the berries set, so they don't eat the berries). But

they like some vitamins, esp. calcium I've heard, so I bury old bones

by them. Also you have to stake up the raspberries and some blackberries,

and trim back the old growth.

I should also mention that my lassaize faire approach does not give such

high yields as the farmers get. And I don't keep the birds out, so they get

some. But there are still more than I have time to pick, esp. when you

add in the rhubarb, wild ferns, collards, and all the other stuff to harvest.

>

Heidi Jean