Rabbiteye Blueberries
If you have little kids, you should try to grow berries. The blueberries and blackberries have been coming in this week, and the whole family has been having a wonderful time picking them. Boy #1 has been in absolute berry heaven, and every chance he gets he wants to go pick blueberries. He likes the strawberries too, but there's just something magical about blueberries for him. Even when he was a toddler he loved to go pick and eat blueberries. He would grab my hand and say 'Gung-Gungs!" when he wanted to go pick some more. Now Boy #2 is getting to join in the fun, but so far his heart still belongs to strawberries. According to Boy #1: he is Blueberry-Boy, Boy #2 is Strawberry-Boy, I'm Blackberry-Boy, and Dr. Wife is Kitty-Kat-Girl (we have no idea why).
I grow five or six different kinds of rabbiteye blueberries (eight bushes total), but I've managed to lose most of the tags, so I don't always know which berry is what variety. All of them taste about the same to me, but Dr. Wife likes the Brightwell blueberries the best. She says that they are the biggest, juiciest, and tastiest, although that particular bush seems to be a little less productive than the others. I think they're all great once you learn how to tell the difference between the berries that are ready from the ones that need another day or two to fully ripen. The blackberries (Kiowa) have been wonderful too, although I can't let the boys pick them because of the vicious thorns. Boy #1 likes them, but prefers the blueberries, and Boy #2 just isn't interested. That's OK, more for the grown-ups! I look for the biggest, perfectly-ripe ones and give them to Dr. Wife like little love notes. There is no denying that a soft, fully-ripened blackberry may be one of the most delicious things known to human kind.
The blackberries have been relatively productive, but I don't think they get enough sun where they are now. Once the blackberries are finished fruiting my plan is to transplant them to a sunnier spot, and put seven or eight Southern Highbush blueberries in their place. I'll also be planting the new blueberries in large pots of peat moss/potting soil mix, and will run new piping to them from the rain tank. The blackberries will be planted in a zig-zag pattern in the side yard, and trained up metal t-posts. If all goes to plan I'll have twice the blueberry and blackberry plants, and therefore effectively double my berry harvest. At the rate my boys are gobbling up berries, I may need more!
I grow five or six different kinds of rabbiteye blueberries (eight bushes total), but I've managed to lose most of the tags, so I don't always know which berry is what variety. All of them taste about the same to me, but Dr. Wife likes the Brightwell blueberries the best. She says that they are the biggest, juiciest, and tastiest, although that particular bush seems to be a little less productive than the others. I think they're all great once you learn how to tell the difference between the berries that are ready from the ones that need another day or two to fully ripen. The blackberries (Kiowa) have been wonderful too, although I can't let the boys pick them because of the vicious thorns. Boy #1 likes them, but prefers the blueberries, and Boy #2 just isn't interested. That's OK, more for the grown-ups! I look for the biggest, perfectly-ripe ones and give them to Dr. Wife like little love notes. There is no denying that a soft, fully-ripened blackberry may be one of the most delicious things known to human kind.
The blackberries have been relatively productive, but I don't think they get enough sun where they are now. Once the blackberries are finished fruiting my plan is to transplant them to a sunnier spot, and put seven or eight Southern Highbush blueberries in their place. I'll also be planting the new blueberries in large pots of peat moss/potting soil mix, and will run new piping to them from the rain tank. The blackberries will be planted in a zig-zag pattern in the side yard, and trained up metal t-posts. If all goes to plan I'll have twice the blueberry and blackberry plants, and therefore effectively double my berry harvest. At the rate my boys are gobbling up berries, I may need more!
Huge blackberry.
Kiowa Blackberries
Brightwell rabbiteye blueberries. Dr. Wife's favorite.
Blackberries on the left, blueberries on the right.
Dr. Wife and Boy #1 busy picking.
Boy #2 is one happy berry boy!
Making blueberry pancakes.
