Love Them Berries

The long awaited raspberry patch came into full production last week and the yields and quality are very good ! Last summer I opened a straight trench bed in what is probably the only remaining section of our yard without significant sub-surface limestone deposits. We put in five Jewel blacks and five Encore reds alternating them along the bed.

So far, the blacks have out-performed the reds. They come on in clusters of five fruits going from red to black as they ripen. The reds on the other hand seem to come in clusters of three and go from white to red as they ripen. The blacks definitely have more flavor and are sweeter at least for this first year. Needless to say we are seeing about 75% black to 25% red in any one picking. Summer bearing floricane-type bushes only produce fruit on second year canes. So our current production is coming off the canes that came up last summer right after we put in the bed. The new canes for next year (primocanes) are shooting up right now and some are huge. Perhaps we will get more reds next year.

Luckily we have seen very little insect damage; only an occasional cluster of leaves with a Japanese beetle or two and so far no sign of stink bug infestation which is very surprising since I've seen them on some of the wild berries on the edge of our property. Raspberries are very tender so I would imagine they would have no problem feeding off of them. Also no sign of any significant bird damage, and our ground-hog seems to be content with the mulberry bush.

The real fun will be in a few weeks when the harvest is complete. The second year canes will have to be removed and the primocanes thinned to make room for next years production. Like any bramble weed, the bed is already out of control so it will be tedious picking through the canes and cutting out the right ones. Right now we continue to pick and freeze and most will go to jam and fruit leather.