As a child I lived on a ranch. At least it was called a ranch. My grandparents took care of the ranch for our landlord. The land covered hundreds of acres. The many roads that interweaved were covered with thousands of plants that had to be maintained by hand. There were 104 rose bushes. I know because I counted them every week as each would be individually watered. Coyotes flourished on the ranch. They were always in search of water, so a drip system did not work. They would shred the water lines. Each week it was my chore to help my grandparents water these plants. I did not enjoy it for one second. For that reason I would have never thought I would have liked homegrown blackberries and raspberries.
Fast forward 15 or so years. One of my biggest passion is gardening. Who knew the things I learned back as a child would help me grow the things I do now. However, I’ve expanded my knowledge to growing edible plants. A few of my favorites are growing blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.
This current year, due to the late frosts that occurred hear in Beaumont I didn’t get a single blueberry. Take that back, Johanna did get one. Nearly all the blossoms were destroyed. We did however get a large crop of blackberries and raspberries. Over a year and a half ago we planted blackberries and boysenberries. I’m pretty sure the boysenberry was mislabeled because both came out as blackberries.
Johanna loves fruit. She especially loves anything that has berry in the name. She will gobble down a carton of raspberries in one sitting. Anyone who buys cartons of fresh fruit knows that it is not cheap. That is the biggest reason why I planted these plants. Everyday we get one carton full of fruit. That’s about $3.00 worth of fruit at minimum in my area. Generally it’s even more. It helps knowing my daughter is eating something very healthy, and I know my wallet is not depleting. Also, I know exactly what’s in my fruit. No chemicals, just good ole organic compost, much of which I prepare myself. Johanna has been having constipation issues, and blackberries are good source of fiber. That helps her go potty easier, which is also a major plus.
This year we planted another 4 plants of raspberries. Those plants are already creating new canes getting ready for next years harvest. So hopefully next year we will have twice the amount as this year. If that is the case, we will have enough for our baby boy who will be around next year. Although, I’m sure many will say at 9 months he will be too young to taste a blackberry.
This years crop has been going on for about 3 steady weeks. I expect about another month from this crop. After that I expect a large crop of pluots. They are just beginning to show a hint of color. We can’t wait for those. Our plum, peach, and cherry trees did not do good this year. Hopefully next year. We are expecting a fairly large crop of Pink Lady Apples near fall. We are always growing strawberries. However, at this point the only strawberries we’ve gotten were fairly small. All together we hope our berries will get us enough fruit over the summer. That will save us a few hundred dollars. We are also growing watermelons for July. We did loose one already by accident. Johanna was saddened by a little watermelon falling off the stem. Pumpkins are taking off, and hopefully we can use those for Halloween. We haven’t grown pumpkins in a couple years, so that will be exciting.
This will probably be the first year that the plants paid for themselves in how much money we’ve saved in contrast to buying the fruit in store. In any event though, it is a great education for my daughter to learn about growing plants. Everyday she can’t wait to go pick her berries. Who knew something that I did when a child, something that I didn’t enjoy, would be something that I enjoy now and can pass on to my daughter.
Copyright © 2017 Daddy's Turn. All rights reserved.
