The Kind of Berries and Grapes Money Can't Buy

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Raspberries

We like raspberries so much we planted 100 bushes - cost $8.00. This planting should bear for at least 7 years. Perhaps we made a mistake when we chose the Latham for our garden because this is really a commercial berry, but it is hardy and we did get wonderful berries. We also planted some Indian Summer because this is an everbearing type which means you get berries in the early Summer and another crop in the Fall. The raspberries planted in the Spring gave berries the following year. We learned you shouldn't mulch raspberries with poultry litter in the Spring because it makes the shoots grow too fast. When this happens too many become "Winter killed." Raspberries are pruned early in the Spring, and sprayed 3 or 4 times. Any diseased canes should be removed immediately after crop is over. And that's all we've had to do to get 75 or more quarts of raspberries a year!

Currants You can't beat currants for jelly. They are hardy, easy to grow. A half-dozen bushes are well worth considering. Some states ban currants and gooseberries because certain varieties supposedly carry white pine blister rust, a disease that destroys white pine trees. Cool moist climates are ideal for currants.

Gooseberries I hope some of you people who are already living in a "Have-More" homestead will want to try gooseberries. They make good pies, tarts and jams and the fresh ripe fruit makes a delicious dessert. Even in Canada they can be grown; in cool, moist climates they flourish. (In England they grow so well that the berries are often as large as eggs!) Experts say this fruit has been pretty much neglected in this country - it ought to make an interesting experiment.

Grapes

We planted 10 vines - 4 Concord, old-standard, for jelly and jam . . . 2 Caco, a red grape ripening in early September . . . 2 Niagara, white grape which ripens in mid season . . . and 2 Portland, another white grape, which ripens early. Grapes really don't bear heavily until the fourth season, so we haven't actually had any from our vines as yet. All 10 grape vines cost only $5.00.

Blueberries

Blueberries are rather expensive - $1.00 per plant, we paid. But four to six are supposed to be enough for an average family. One interesting thing about blueberries-they often fruit the first year and will keep bearing for fifty years. Unhappily, out of our six bushes we lost four last year-the goats ate one and a bulldozer we had ripping out stumps in our back yard chewed three more.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print