How wonderful it is to see everything coming alive in the spring. Last year in February we planted 4 bare root raspberry canes. Along the trellis you can see how much our 4 raspberry canes have grown.
Category: Vineyard
Bare Root Raspberries 8 Month Progress
Back in February we planted 2 Latham and 2 Heritage Everbearing bare root raspberry canes. We were pleasantly surprised when they began growing and did not die like our attempt last year. But what was even more amazing to us is that the 2 Heritage Everbearing canes were putting out fruit! A few weeks ago we were doing our evening walk in the garden and out of the corner of my eye I saw bright red over at the raspberries.
Bare Root Raspberries 7 Month Progress
We had planted 2 raspberry vines last year, but they never grew and died. They were a part of the shipment that got lost, came late, and were planted late. So back in February on a trip to Tractor Supply we bought 4 more bare root raspberry canes (2 Heritage Everbearing and 2 Latham).
We planted the raspberries just a few days later and said a little prayer.
For what seemed like the longest time there was again no sign of life. Then 2 months after planting we finally saw some green life to them.
Our First Blueberries
Last spring we planted two blueberry bushes. Although, we are quite impatient people and would love to have immediate returns we were really not anticipating having any blueberries this year. So we were ecstatic when we saw how well they were growing this year and saw them putting out blooms. Each bush was a different variety and one of them was about a week ahead of the other with blooms and the blueberries ripening. To our dismay the birds picked the first bush clean before we even knew what happened! But Jon put bird netting over the other blueberry bush along with our other berries and we were able to have our first small harvest of blueberries. We had just enough to eat fresh and some for blueberry pancakes. Two more times we have picked a small handful such as this. The rest we have been just eating fresh and throwing in smoothies with some other fruits. How blessed we are to be able to have our own fresh fruit, even if it is only in small handfuls.
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| Our First Handful of Blueberries Ever! |
Bird Netting for Berries
There is nothing more disheartening than having your berries be almost ripe one day, and completely wiped out by birds the very next day. It is amazing how fast birds can pick an entire berry bush clean. The simple solution is to net your berry bushes to keep the birds from getting to your precious berries.
We recently purchased Bird Block Netting netting for our berry bushes and fruit trees. There are many types and brands of netting available, and I am not saying the other brands will not work as well. This is just the brand we purchased due to the price and the size (we are rather cheap).
Update On Our Berries Growth
Our berries are well on there way and doing well.
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Blueberries, Our One Raspberry, and Blackberries Galore!
Bare Root Raspberries 2 Month Progress
Early in February we bought 4 bare root raspberry plants. As mentioned before, last year we did not have any success with some bare root raspberry plants we purchased online.
The raspberries from last year were shipped with some gel on the roots. Although this year we bought our plants at Tractor Supply Company, they were also bare root packaged in peat moss. Just a little over 2 months ago, we planted the raspberries outside and covered them with lots of pine needles.
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The Blueberry Bushes are Flourishing!
The blueberry bushes are flourishing and the fruit trees are growing like mad! Every day Jon and I like to “walk the grounds” to look at everything. This time of the year there are so many changes that spring up over night.
Last year we planted two blueberry bushes. They grew nicely last year. The blueberries and the grapes are the only thing that survived from our two large orders of trees, vines, and bushes. The blueberries are looking awesome already this year. Maybe we will get a few blueberries this year!
Blueberry Bush
Growing New Grapevines From Pruned Cuttings
New grapevines can be propagated from the cuttings pruned from your grapevines. Since grapevines must be pruned every year, this gives you the opportunity to plant more and more grapevines every year without going out and spending hard earned money for more. We like free.
You will want to plan your pruning with the plan of planting your cuttings. The cuttings must be planted in the same direction they are growing, that is the end of the cutting that is closest to the base of the vine needs to go in the ground. An easy way to keep track of which end is which is to cut the bottom of the cutting straight across, and the top of the cutting trimmed at an angle. This way you can always tell which end of the cutting goes in the ground.
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Pruning the Grapevines
It is the time of the year to prune grapevines. It is best to prune them during their dormant stage in the winter, but it is also a good idea to prune them as late in the winter as possible. Pruning them late in the winter leaves less time before the open wounds caused by pruning to naturally heal themselves. During the winter, the vines are dormant and will not heal the wounds caused by pruning. This leaves a slight chance of disease to enter through the wound. Now, it is still better to prune them early in the winter than to wait to long, but to be on the safe side, I like to wait until late in the winter.
There is a lot of information to be found on the internet about pruning your grapevines, but a lot of it is very difficult to follow. I have read and reread dozens of posts about pruning grapevines, and to be honest it was mostly very difficult to follow. Luckily this is our first year, so the pruning this year is rather straight forward.
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