Eat your blackberries/raspberries?
- Thread starter JetBlack
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What pruning method are you using?
What pruning method are you using?
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- #13
Quote:
What pruning method are you using?
Not the stupid Gurney's method! They say "Mow the canes to the ground, every fall, after the leaves have fallen off." Like roses, kinda.
I read a research article on pruning blackberries (thornless like mine!) and it said to cut the green, living canes back to about 5' (or longer, if you can support them). Every little spike-looking thing will be a fruit bearing branch, next season. Well, they weren't kidding. Sweet Lord of Goodness, I bet I have 100x more berries this year, than last. The researcher got something like 70# of berries, per 2 year old plant. figured I'd give it a try.
Right now, the plants are making the canes for next year. Long, straight shoots that grow, maybe 12 feet and curve over, to almost, the ground. They are growing right up, through the bushes.
What pruning method are you using?
Not the stupid Gurney's method! They say "Mow the canes to the ground, every fall, after the leaves have fallen off." Like roses, kinda.
I read a research article on pruning blackberries (thornless like mine!) and it said to cut the green, living canes back to about 5' (or longer, if you can support them). Every little spike-looking thing will be a fruit bearing branch, next season. Well, they weren't kidding. Sweet Lord of Goodness, I bet I have 100x more berries this year, than last. The researcher got something like 70# of berries, per 2 year old plant. figured I'd give it a try.
Right now, the plants are making the canes for next year. Long, straight shoots that grow, maybe 12 feet and curve over, to almost, the ground. They are growing right up, through the bushes.
- Thread starter
- #14
I just took these pics and you can see the berries are coming along nicely. In some, you can see the green canes coming up, that will be next year's bushes. This year, the canes will make about a dozen berries each. The bushes? Gobs. By fall, I'll probably be at the point where if I ever see another blackberry or blackberry recipe, it will be too soon.
My Great Grandmother's recipe for Marnoufka (off the top of my head)
1 1/2 cups of white sugar.
1 5th of vodka
2 pounds of raspberries (fresh is much better than frozen. If you use frozen, they must be as fresh as possible. Any freezer burn taste will take years to go away!)
Stir the sugar into the vodka and mix until the sugar is dissolved. You can use a blender, I'm sure. Everything is a great idea once you have had some of the vodka.
Put the black or raspberries into a glass jar (I use a candy jar because it has a good seal on the lid) If the lid does not seal well, after you are done, you will need to use candle wax to seal it.
Pour the vodka/sugar mix over the berries and stir a bit to get the bubbles out.
Seal the jar for 6 months to 10 years. Hint: hide the jar. Make two. Put one in the back of the cupboard, above the fridge (you never go in there, if you can avoid it, but once a year or less... and then next time, you'll have a treat waiting for you!) and put another in the back of the bottom drawer, in the corner. You might not find that one until you move, or your grandkids are cleaning out your house after you die.
It gets better as it ages and the berries slowly break down, in the liquid. It will become dark red, in a week or two and will be the burgundy color of blood, in two years. It will continue to age to almost black, it will be such a deep burgundy. Fantastic on ice cream or as an after dinner liqueur or, when mixed with ice and tonic water, an aperitif. You can play vampire and sip it straight, but it's very rich and sweet. It will certainly dye the inside of your mouth red. Some will leak to and stain, the outside of your cheeks and nose, but that's normal. Your whole head will turn pink, after a few drinks of it. You will want to call people you have not spoken to in years and tell them how much you love them and how great they are.
Ask me how I know this
My Great Grandmother's recipe for Marnoufka (off the top of my head)
1 1/2 cups of white sugar.
1 5th of vodka
2 pounds of raspberries (fresh is much better than frozen. If you use frozen, they must be as fresh as possible. Any freezer burn taste will take years to go away!)
Stir the sugar into the vodka and mix until the sugar is dissolved. You can use a blender, I'm sure. Everything is a great idea once you have had some of the vodka.
Put the black or raspberries into a glass jar (I use a candy jar because it has a good seal on the lid) If the lid does not seal well, after you are done, you will need to use candle wax to seal it.
Pour the vodka/sugar mix over the berries and stir a bit to get the bubbles out.
Seal the jar for 6 months to 10 years. Hint: hide the jar. Make two. Put one in the back of the cupboard, above the fridge (you never go in there, if you can avoid it, but once a year or less... and then next time, you'll have a treat waiting for you!) and put another in the back of the bottom drawer, in the corner. You might not find that one until you move, or your grandkids are cleaning out your house after you die.
It gets better as it ages and the berries slowly break down, in the liquid. It will become dark red, in a week or two and will be the burgundy color of blood, in two years. It will continue to age to almost black, it will be such a deep burgundy. Fantastic on ice cream or as an after dinner liqueur or, when mixed with ice and tonic water, an aperitif. You can play vampire and sip it straight, but it's very rich and sweet. It will certainly dye the inside of your mouth red. Some will leak to and stain, the outside of your cheeks and nose, but that's normal. Your whole head will turn pink, after a few drinks of it. You will want to call people you have not spoken to in years and tell them how much you love them and how great they are.
Ask me how I know this
Your berry bushes look fabulous! Enjoy them.
- Thread starter
- #16
Quote:
I go out and look at them every day. Right now, the ripest ones look like raspberries, but they are hard as bullets. I have to make myself wait until they are really soft. Then they are delicious! If the chickens eat them all I will be sending someone to freezer camp.
I go out and look at them every day. Right now, the ripest ones look like raspberries, but they are hard as bullets. I have to make myself wait until they are really soft. Then they are delicious! If the chickens eat them all I will be sending someone to freezer camp.
We have a gazillion raspberry bushes and the chickens have full access. They always go over to "help" my husband when he is picking and he will toss the berries that are flawed to them. They will eat one or two and then no more. My girls love protein, they aren't so much into the healthy stuff.
- Thread starter
- #18
Quote:
So if your OM is BBQing, they sort of hover around thinking "He looks clumsy. Something might fall."
So if your OM is BBQing, they sort of hover around thinking "He looks clumsy. Something might fall."
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