lowes is selling berry plants (grapes too) and so i guess they can be grown in northern texas--has anyone tried and had luck? tricky? i think they had black berries and maybe raspberries --sold as rooted plants kind of like the way some roses are sold with the root area wrapped up
berry growing
I once grew thornless raspberries, the were great but didn't last long. We had a tortoise had lived in our yard and during berry time it would be walking around with red stains all around his mouth, it was really cute.
pretty funny! we have box turtles that have lived in our yard for the past 15 years or so-- no care from us so not pets but we love them--we won't see any for months and think they are gone and then there will be a "sighting" and we all get excited--a while back we couldn't tell how many lived in the yard because when we would see one we couldn't tell if it was the same one we saw before--so i painted a number on its shell in nail polish --we ended up with 3--once when the kids were young we had a contest to see who could find them but no one did! they sure can hide--and they sure have an active sex life!! one year the kids would come in yelling "mom the turtles are stuck together again"!!
That is really cute Linda, we tried to find which sex our turtle was so we could find it a mate, but were never able to determine it. It lived with us a long time and one day we had the garden area tilled and the poor turtle had burrowed in the soil and the tiller cut it in half.
It was so sad, because we were very fond of it.
We haven't had turtles since, but it was very nice having it around.
Josephine.
This message was edited Jan 26, 2008 10:33 AM
ours are box turtles--about the size of a small melon--they sell them at pet stores --maybe you can try again--we got ours because the kids would find one and put it in our yard--turns out they were from a neighbor who had lots in her yard along with tortoise but she let us keep them --
Well, you will have to plant some raspberries for your turtles, they are so cute.
I have had blackberries here and never get a berry - the birds all get them long before they are ripe and it is to no avail.
i remember growing strawberries in indianapolis one summer and never getting any because of the birds--my neighbor thought it was funny that i just kept letting them eat them--he had ideas for netting etc--i just figured i might as well chalk it up as a donation to the birds!
Blackberries do really well here. We have the same bird issues...they love them.
I get really lucky with the black berries, mine have grown between a retaining wall and chain link fence. The birds eat all the berries growing on the outside of the fence, but won't venture between the fence and wall. The berries get huge and I found that If I take long kitchen tongs I can reach were the birds won't go. The spoon shaped end of the tongs are perfect for picking without squishing them.
Oh, what a coincidence, one of my strawberry plants just put on a bloom! Too early, of course. I haven't had many problems with blackberries. On occasion, you can tell one or two berries had something pecking on it, but not often. The peaches, on the other hand....well, last year was the first time I really got to enjoy my own peaches.
mmmmmmmmm home grown peaches! went to my friends lake house in east texas and got some farm peaches on the way home--so good!
Tongs! Love that idea. This one I won't forget.
We have three varieties of blackberries along a barb-wired fence, making a beautiful barrier that feed birds and us. Will try to post a pic tomorrow.
Some of the plants came from our local Lowes. Got a raspberry that's doing well, after looking very poorly for a while.
Our blackberries have gotten so thick that it is hard to find a path among them. Notice I don't say between! I started a few years ago with a half dozen plants, and there's now have a patch about forty by twenty feet extending back into the oak trees and shinnery. I don't know the variety as they were a gift from a friend, but the berries are huge. If and when life settles down, I will try to make some orderly paths to make harvesting berries less painful. I need to add blackberry plants to my list for the College Station RU!
so berrie plants come back each year?
Oh yes, bigger and better, but the thornless raspberries I had were not adapted to Texas and they only lived two years, that was a long time ago, so I can't even remember the name.
Peaches This time of the year?
I am going to try some Black Raspberries this year...they are more adapted to Texas than the red ones. I plan to try some Blackberries too.
I like the Kiowa blackberry variety the best, big sweet berries. At least in my garden, it hasn't been invasive (like Brazos was... that one spread all over). When I want to propagate it, I do air layering. But any blackberry plant takes some room. Every year, after it's finished producing berries, I prune out all the canes that had the berries, because those won't produce again.
no peaches this time of year! i forget that while i am thinking back to last summer it might help if i let others know! did you think i was telling tall tales?!
No tall tales, I just wondered where they were from...Chile??
Berry Bushes (with Roses and Chinese Privet). I suppose the bushes are so tall, because they're in a narrow line and reaching for the sun.
ok so I can get strawberry plants and blueberry and maybe grapes too since I guess I have blackberries growing out back (wild ones I'm sure) .....note though back in Illinois we used netting to cover blueberries and such to keep th birds form getting the fruit and eating it all...had raspberries in the back yard from previous owners and the blueberry bushes were close to dead when we got there never produced......oh geez see what happens when I go strolling again in DG ..more things to add to my wanna have do list LOL
oh i feel your pain mibus!! where in illinois did you live? and where is flint in relation to dallas area?
Kiowa are great berries. The Brazos berry is not as sweet. I've also got some thornless types. I've just moved to the Boerne area (NW of San Antonio) from the Gulf Coast and I've been planting like mad. I'm using a system with the berries where you drive sturdy metal stakes about 4 feet apart and then run between the stakes at about the 1', 2', and 3' height. Sort of like you do for grapes. You space the berries about 4 feet apart and train them up the wires. Ist year vine is the prima cane and its mission is to grow. The second year that same cane will flower and fruit and then needs to be removed. In the meantime, new canes (primas) will come up. The trellising system will allow you easier access to the vines and keep them upright so you don't have dirt and slugs on the berries. We can't grow raspberries in central and south Tx. but you might further north! I'm not 100% positive about the dimensions of the trellising system. I need to dig into my Master Gardener notes to make sure. They like full sun and deep soil. I'll post any revisions in my trellis calculations if anyone is interested in trying this method.
planolinda I grew up in Urbana home of the University of Illinois but moved here from Belvidere where there is a Chrysler plant next to Rockford.
As far as where I live I am no where near Flint but for some odd reason that is my town ...If you look at a map and find Chandler on 31 just above Lake Palestine then there is a road just east of it FM2661 I live on that road about 6 miles from Chandler and mmm 9ish from Tyler. I would say from the driving we have done over to the Ru and to Broncs work to get 4x4's we are roughly 2 hours from Dallas area.
69 goes to Lindale Where Mea's nursery is that sells rose bushes in Sept. where cocoa_lulu took me this last year and Chamblee's is on the same road just closer to Tyler..which I have 4 rose bushes in my greenhouse right now my mom is taking back to Urbana 2 I got her for x-ma and 2 we got the day after LOL
clbrown thanks for the info and yes please any other info would be great ..I may not get to it this year but will give me notes to save for next year or whenever I can afford to get that far LOL
Opps! Forgot to insert the word "wire" in my previous message about trellising berries. Run 2 or 3 strands of "wire" between the stakes. Should look like: |=|=|=| sort of...
CB
cl: I second any info about your technique. Love the idea.
Mi: I'm a camp nurse at Pine Cove a few weeks during the summer. Bet I could walk to your place! Pine Cove's grounds are beautiful. They had a guy who for many years keep up the area till last year. He told me he learned how to garden by trial and error. I try to pick his brain, because his techniques result in show stopping quality. Bet I could walk to your place! Come see me this summer.
Ahh yes Antique Pine cove is down the road a lil bit from me I drive past it when I go to the Brookshires at that end of the road LOL.
Let me know when you are gonna be down there so we can get together
Phyllis
Will do.
I like the native dewberries. They make a great cobbler or pie! At the beginning of each harvest, I'll even eat a few fresh, they are a bit tart though. They grow like crazy out here at work.
Two years ago, I bought Quinault and Sequoia plants when they became available in March. I got very poor results. I subsequently read in Dr. Bob Randall's book that planting in September-October might give me better results.
I had read on another forum about the success people had had with a variety called Chandler and ordered some bare-root plants off the Internet for a good price. I planted them in October at 1 ft spacing in well-amended raised beds. I also had some Quinault plants left over from the spring. In the spring (now 2007) the Chandler plants all thrived and gave me an excellent harvest (over 1 pint per plant), but I was not impressed with the flavor. They might be great in Northern California, but the Houston climate must not be to their liking.
Interestingly, the Quinault plants which had survived gave excellent fruit, but because of the clustering/bunching of the plants (they seem to clone themselves and end up with a bunch of crowns right next to each other, rather than propagating by runners), the fruit were small and not plentiful. In short, I'd spent my efforts on the right technique, but the wrong variety!
If I try strawberry plants again, I will buy Quinault bare-root plants off the internet. I have not been able to find strawberry plants in my corner of S.E. Texas when I needed them most. Once I get them home, I spray the roots with water and keep them loosely wrapped in plastic until I'm ready to plant. I followed all the dire warnings about the correct positioning of the crown and roots in the hole and only lost 1 of 25 plants.
By the way, I didn't lose a single strawberry to rodents or birds after I made a little framework out of 1" x 2"s and stapled bird netting to it and just laid it down on top of the bed (and secured it with bricks at the corners).
http://www.feldoncentral.com/garden/photos/v/memberphotos/morgan/spring2007/
Strawberry photos start on page 6.
This message was edited Feb 1, 2008 9:19 PM
Wow feldon, some kindda pics. Thanks for posting those. I hope you post some summer '07 views.
Sorry I didn't see this update until now. Too bad DG doesn't send out e-mail notifications when a topic you have posted to gets updated. Anywho...
I don't really try to grow anything in the summer in S.E. Texas. I grow tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, potatoes, and peppers in the spring and fall. This fall I will be planting Quinault strawberry plants in a 4' x 8' bed. I may even bring some sand in, we'll see. You can find pictures for Fall 2007 and a couple of Spring 2008 photos in my gallery if you poke around. I need to post a bunch more '08 pics. I don't seem to post them as often since I got my new camera...
On a whim, I bought 10 Kiowa blackberry plants and an apple tree at the UrbanHarvest Fruit Tree sale. The blackberry bushes are doing very well and it looks like I will get a couple of pints of blackberries (I wasn't expecting any!). I might get gallons next year. :)
Of course for the blackberries, I will be making a framework out of PVC (painted dark green for aesthetic reasons) to put over the entire blackberry bed and stapling bird netting to it.
I have about 8-10 kiowa blackberries. Tried the red raspberries, but they failed. These plants are going on over 10 years. I have noticed that good irrigation (I used a soaker hose on a timer) has yeilded EXCELLENT harvest. Sooooo all the $$ on water last year will reap a super harvest this spring. Each year, the plants send out new runners and my original 3 plants has turned into numerous. We love the berries on ice cream and I make a blackberry slump (kind of like a wet biscuit topping) and niether last long. Of the 7 plants I had last year we havested about 1 1/2 gallons of berries. I do freeze some, but again, they don't last long.
PS I am noticing bud already. - Birds haven't been too large an issue, but once they see hte harvest this year, I may be wrong.
Dewberries have been flowering for about a week. I can't wait for some cobbler!!