Have a Berry Nice Day!

Ripening Arapaho Blackberries-Bird Back 40

It's berry season in the Bird Back 40. It's about time. It's also early this year thanks to some unseasonably HOT weather in the Sacramento river bottom. Our spring this year should be awarded the film title of Gone in Sixty Seconds. The hot spring jump-started many fresh fruits and vegetables that either did very well (asparagus) or flopped completely (artichokes).

One crop to react positively to an early spring rush of hot weather? The blackberries pictured above. They are large. They are luscious. They represent one of the best "impulse" purchases that Bill Bird has ever made. This is the Arapaho Thornless Blackberry vine. Unlike many other thornless vines that need support in the form of a trellis or fence, the Arapaho resembles a small tree with a thick central cane system that keeps the plant upright.

Arapaho Blackberry Ready for Consumption

I literally tripped over this starter plant in my mad quest for additional seed potatoes last spring at Lowe's Big Box Home Improvement store in West Sacramento. I had recently made a decision to move existing vines from one spot in the yard to another, which would create space for one brand new vine. I had never known vines to be self-supporting, and since I literally tripped over them while searching for seed potatoes, I considered it a sign from God.

Thus the Arapaho was purchased and planted in the Bird Back 40. My faith has been rewarded with berries the size of walnuts and a creamy sweet delightful taste that would be a winner in any pie made from scratch. My only regret is that the Arapaho, now in its second year of production, isn't producing quite enough for pies just yet. But as I gaze at that Jack-in-the-Beanstalk tree-trunk sized growth bent on growing over the fence line, I have a pretty good idea that pie construction will be on the agenda for 2014.

Next Year's Fruiting Cane: The Arapaho

But the Arapaho isn't the only thornless blackberry springing to life in the Bird Back 40. In fact, I know of one or two Sacramento area fresh berry growers that would even make the case that the Arapaho isn't the best vine in the Bird Back 40. Nope! That honor would be bestowed to the vine growing to the immediate right of the Arapaho: the Black Satin.

Unlike the Arapaho, the Black Satin was not an impulse purchase. I was approached by two other gardeners several years ago who were putting together a major purchase at a well known California nursery and asked if I wanted in. Want in? Duh. I didn't "want in." I dived in with three feet. Four or five years ago the Black Satin Blackberry vine was the current rage of the gardening day. It was the "must have" berry for the backyard.

And, so, well, I had to have it.

Black Satin Blackberries-Bird Back 40

As it turns out? I had some problems with it. The first plant actually up and died on me. In fact, it never got beyond "bare root" stage. When June rolled around and that brown cane started turning even browner, I knew that something had gone wrong. And I would have to wait another full year, till the next bare root season, to get a replacement. And then, to add insult to injury, I dug the plant up last year and moved it to another location. Talk about a crime! I could be tried and convicted! The charge your honor? Black Satin Blackberry Abuse!

As for the friend who also ordered the Black Satin? She's a little better gardener than I am. Her plant lived. Plus she didn't abuse it like I did. Today that Black Satin plant resembles a large Christmas Tree, and, yes, it's loaded with hundreds of FAT berries. She recently posted a picture of her plant on her Facebook page and I reacted by promptly drooling on my computer keyboard. What's that? You'd like her name and address eh? Yeah, I'm sure you do...

Loaded Black Satin Bush-Sacramento

I guess the point I'm trying to make here -- and doing a bad job at it -- is that spring and summer blackberries are the absolute bomb. The days of plants with thorns the size and sharpness of switchblades are long gone. Horticulture has rewarded us with all sorts of berry options, minus the thorns. Got a small and ignored spot in the yard? Plant berries.

You'll be glad you did. Because there's nothing quite like a slice of warm Black Satin and Arapaho Blackberry pie on a cold winter's day. That's what growing your own is all about.

All Hail the THORNLESS Boysenberry!

Boysenberry & Strawberry Harvest: Bird Back 40

When one cannot sleep on a Friday morning? One Blogs.

Today I have thoughts of boysenberry cobbler on the brain -- or perhaps boysenberry pancake syrup. Boysenberry pie? That sounds nice.

I am consumed by thoughts of boysenberries because the very first boysenberry crop in the Bird Back 40 is coming ripe -- quickly. The photo up top doesn't even represent half of what we harvested this past weekend, and despite the inclement (lousy) weather, even more will come off the vine this weekend.

There was once a time and place in this world where a harvest like this not only resulted in fresh berries, but lots of Bactine, ACE bandages and well-pockmarked hands. The boysenberry harvest was anything but a pleasure. It meant a long and winding trip through Thorn County and Pain City.

Thornless Boysenberry Bush

We probably all have memories of boysenberry harvests as children. In my case? I have nightmares. I can remember the day when mother came home with a boysenberry plant with specific instructions to plant it in the patch of weeds that represented one of our side yards. There had been a sandbox back in this area when I was a small child, but the area had been taken over by weeds, spiders and insects since then.

Of course -- I didn't know what to expect. I remember I loved the thought of getting fresh berries from the backyard. So did my mother, who would relate tales of her berry-harvest adventures as a child growing up in Eugene, Oregon. There's no need to plant berry bushes anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. Everywhere you turn -- there's a bush waiting to be harvested.

But mother also omitted one important fact. Old school boysenberry vines came complete with old school THORNS. These were RAZOR SHARP and left quite the impression in your skin and mind should you put your hand in the wrong area. Harvesting berries called for an expert hand -- not some uncoordinated pre-teen boy.

But pre-teen boy was all that we had. More than once I found myself inexplicably wrapped in several layers of a thorny vine, wondering how in the world I managed to get so attached to a vine intent on tearing skin from bone, and praying for assistance from above for a way out.

God would not answer my prayers on those days, which is why mom kept a vat of Bactine handy.

In no time at all -- that one vine managed to take over a good portion of that side yard -- and I kept my distance. I'd learned my lesson. The side yard belonged to the boysenberry vine and it's legendary thorns. I dare not tread there. I learned by lesson. When the time came -- some years later -- to clear the side yard for a garden project? I was only too happy to assault and dig up the vine that had caused so much pain as a child.

Into the compost heap of memory it went -- painful memories at that I might add.

Washing the Harvest: Sweet Boysenberries

It was the wife that is Venus who revived those awful memories a few years ago by suggesting a vine for the backyard. "No," I told her. "That's not for me. You can have the berries -- and the thorns."

But a lot has taken place in the world of Horticulture between the world that was 1970's Modesto and 2010 Sacramento. Someone -- I'm not sure who -- came up with the marvelous invention of a boysenberry plant that produced lip-smacking boysenberries -- minus the ear-piercing screams of pain that resulted from getting stuck by a boysenberry thorn.

Thornless boysenberries you say? Genius! And that is what we have planted in the Bird Back 40 today. Next to the thornless boysenberry are two types of blackberry vines -- including the legendary Black Satin vine. Both are also thornless.

Look Mom! No Thorns!

I've come to discover that the "thornless boysenberry" isn't exactly perfect. This is a plant -- at one time -- that did produce lots of thorns. And -- every once in a great while -- it will revert to its old school ways and send up a runner covered with them. I should know -- I've been stuck a few times.

 The instructions in this case are fairly simple. Do not allow the vines covered with thorns to grow. Cut them off at ground level as soon as you spot them. Once they have been cut back they rarely return and the plant returns to its normal habit of sending up thornless vines from root level.

Thornless boysenberry plants will also send out lots of vines in the fall that root into different areas and produce new boysenberry plants. This is fantastic if you want more than just one. But if you don't keep an eye on it -- that "small" patch will soon take over the yard. Like any fruit or citrus tree? It needs care and pruning.

But I can tell you this much: After one bite of the boysenberry cobbler we feasted on this weekend? The effort is more than worth it.

You can find thornless boysenberry plants -- several different varieties by the way -- online or at any nursery. In my case? My starter plant came from Capital Nursery last spring. I have no doubt you'll find similar, thornless, offerings at various nurseries in your area as well.

A Very Berry Bird Backyard

It's a backyard built for the Birds -- and those thieving robins will thank us with even more thievery in the coming years.

Why?

We've planted more "Bird food" as evidenced by the photo to your immediate right. That my friends -- is a bare root blueberry bush purchased not all that long ago from the endless garden aisles at Home Depot.

This Southern Highbush variety Blueberry known as "Misty" has two other friends planted nearby called "Sharp Blue." And they are the latest entrants into the Backyard of Bird.

Venus and I didn't let the past weekend go to waste. While snow has buried vast areas of the country -- Mother Nature blessed us with two days of abundant sunshine and moderately warm weather.

While it wasn't quite enough to completely dry out the mudpit that is our current backyard status -- it firmed up enough to get some much needed work done. The clock is ticking on bare root season folks. The new fruit and berry additions to the Back 40 go in now -- or you face the prospect of paying top dollar later this spring and summer or -- worse yet -- waiting for Bare Root Season 2011.

The first project? Find a home for the two Black Satin Thornless Blackberries and one Thornless Boysenberry that I ordered through Bay Laurel Nursery earlier this winter. I had the spot picked out -- but I needed to do more than just "dig and plant."

Nope -- it's got to look "the part." I'm snobby that way. Plus -- it's got to be irrigated. I can't be dragging a hose or watering can all over the yard this spring and summer. What does this mean? It means a small profit for the Man's Toy Store that is Home Depot -- lots of screws -- quite a bit of clay mud (a great leveling tool), straps to hold everything together, a big pile of drip tubing and some well amended compost for the bed itself.

I don't want just any old blackberry. I want Monster Berries. Since I've yet to fail with any gardening item planted in a raised bed -- I'm hopeful we'll have a mass of berries to harvest in another year or three. The hard work won't pay off with a harvest this summer, but next year and the year after? Time will tell.

I got hooked on the Black Satin Blackberries after spotting a blackberry bush in the backyard belonging to South Natomas Gardener Extraodinaire Nels Christenson. Did I say "spot?" Attack would be a more appropriate word here. After all -- it did take a crowbar and quite a bit of pressure for Nels to pry me off the thing.

My one memory of that event? Man -- those were some mighty good berries. The bruises from the crowbar have long since faded.

The berry culture has come quite a long way since I grew boysenberries as a kid growing up in Modesto. Back then? Blueberries didn't grow on the West Coast. That was an "East Coast thing," according my mom. Boysenberries did grow well here -- but I soon discovered they had thorns. Not just any thorns either -- but thorns that produced ear piercing screams of pain from a young boy who really didn't know any better.

It didn't take long before I avoided that bush like the plague. Hey, I liked boysenberries -- but nobody told me about those THORNS FROM HELL. I think I eventually took the thing out with a flamethrower. My first experience with the berry business was a bitter and painful disappointment. But -- I digress.

Fast foward from the Sluggish Seventies to the New Century -- and breeders have taken over with advanced versions of your favorite berries -- minus the thorns. Not only that -- but that "Blueberries only do well on the East Coast" argument -- has also gone by the wayside.

Suffice to say -- these are not your "mom's blueberries." The Southern Highbush varieties are a relatively new entry into the blueberry market. Derived from the Northern Highbush varieties that did not produce anywhere outside of the State of Maine (OK -- that's just a little joke) -- the Southern Highbush has been hybridized to where it will perform -- and perform well in Central California climates. Further hybridization has led to more than a handful of different types like "Sharp Blue" and "Misty." But there are many others.

Why are we planting Blueberries? Because we can. Where are we planting them? Underneath the stone fruit trees. What? Who said you can do that? Blame Ken Menzer. The Folsom City Arborist not only told us we could do it during a recent Orchard Management class -- he actually commented it was "beneficial" to both stonefruit and berry bush.

Well -- we have lots of room underneath our two peach trees and two cherry trees...And Ken Menzer not only said we could do it -- he all but reccommended it...

Nuff said. Berry madness has officially taken over...

Venus and I worked as a madcap team during the bare root planting effort this past weekend. I would mix together yards of compost and steer manure fertilizer -- drop them at the base of the fruit trees in question -- and Venus would shape those piles into half moons and plant bare root blueberry bushes and strawberry plant starters.

The last step? Irrigation. The new beds are irrigated. They are planted. The weekend planting effort resulted in the planting of four blueberry bushes -- two strawberry plant starters -- two thornless blackberry bushes -- one thornless boysenberry (thank God) -- a Flavor Finale Pluot tree and yet another Improved Meyer Lemon for our "citrus patch."

Are we done yet? Hardly kids. Scratch another item off the long list of "things to do." But there's still more adventure to come. Bare Root season is just getting started...