Since moving here, we have continually been pleasantly surprised by the numerous wild berries that we share a home with.
Thornless Blackberry in flower this year.
In addition to wild berries already present, the community of edible berries that we've planted is an ever expanding catalogue. We have all heard that berries are super nutritious because of the presence of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, other phytochemicals and fiber.
Boysenberry in flower this year.
There is also the benefits of the flowers, oh the gorgeous flowers... Of course these benefit all the wonderful insects that take sustenance from the flowers.
We love that berries are happy here and have taken our cue from nature in what domestic species we decide to introduce here.
Thornless Blackberry in Fall, love the beautiful leaves. There are so many wild blackberries on our land, we knew the thornless would thrive as well.
As always we are striving for an optimized relationship to the land we inhabit. Berries have been a great interest of ours.
We've included a wide diversity of fruits in our plantings that may not botanically be defined as berries, but what the heck they're great!
Hardy Kiwis & Strawberries
Wren planting goji berries last fall in our strawberry bed.
On our land we've found many species growing wild and have taken note.
We have seen blackberries, mulberries, golden currants, strawberries, blueberries, grapes (technically a berry) and raspberries. As mentioned before, the power of observation is epic! We noticed what was already growing and have been influenced and guided by the guild and species we found growing wild on this beautiful land we're charged with caring for.
We are selecting species that are hardy, useful and of course delicious. So far we have been happy to welcome numerous fruiting berry plants. Here's the rundown on the berries we have already established,
Wine Grapes about to go into the ground. We had less than 50% success rate on these seedlings and will try again this year. That's a part of it!
Berries on the Homestead:
- Triple Crown and Chester Thornless Blackberry
- Ozark Beauty Strawberry
- Chambourcin & Norton Wine Grape
- Black Current (unknown variety)
- Red Gooseberry (unknown variety
- Goji Berry
- Black Raspberry
- Heritage, Logan and other Raspberries
- Bob Gordon Elderberry
- Brightwell, Ozrark Blue, Powder Blue, Centurion and other Highbush blueberries.
- Red Crimson Goumi Berry
- Black chokeberry
- Blackberry x Raspberry Hybrids (Tayberry, Loganberry, Boysenberry)
We are happy to see the first flowers and developing fruits on the plants we established.
In fact, this will be the first year we get a crop of berries. YAY!!!
Propagating a root tip- this is an easy way to keep spreading your berries out year after year, as they love to grow!
After a droughty first year, most of our plants are looking healthy and vigorous.
We're not out of the clear yet, but have hopes for many years of berry enjoyment to come. By heavily mulching, sporadic deep waterings and an application of aged manure this spring, we are setting the plants up for success.
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Aww, man. Berries are the one thing we dont have here, though i just discovered someone close has mulberries, so i gotta get in on that. Aside from that we have something that grows on a tree that people here call blackberry, but i dont know what they actually are. They have big pits like cherries. Alas, though, its mango season so i cant complain!
hahaha oh you definitely can't complain! i know someone around here who would give an arm or a leg for mango season ;)
Yeah. It's the redeeming quality of the hottest time of year. They're so, so good. Even after the first time I came here, I just couldn't eat them in the states anymore. They're hard and over priced. I should do a mango post.
OMG mango post! Drool!
Ok. Just for you!!!! I did one of a whole bunch of different things coming in right now and saved the mangoes for last!!!
Oh my... berries are bountiful blissful bombs of AMAZINGBALLS!
It's amazing you have so many wild on your land!
We planted 3 elder, a few goji, two rows of raspberries, blackcurrant and redcurrants, grapes and today I'm planting a blueberry...
My fave are the raspberries for sure!!!
Haha so true. I like your alliteration;) we are indeed so blessed to have such edible diversity, and this isn't to mention persimmons or paw paws.
Sounds like you're doing great things. Thanks for sharing in the goodness and all the best in your berry adventure.
I couldn't get the last alliterative word though and I thought for a whole 2 minutes before I realised I was being silly.
I did forget to say 'berry' good work... damn.
We have pomegranates but our persimmon died and it's not warm enough for papaya here.
My berry adventure is a biatch today as I have to weed the raspberry rows.. ugh... I need a chicken enclosure around them!!
Love it! I a also thinking of some silly puns too... great vines think alike ;)
I was even going to clarify, I meant American paw paw (asimina triloba), I'm almost sure it would grow for you. Yay for weeding !!! Not.... even with 6-8" (15-20 cm)wood shaving we still have to weed ours a bit.
Yes I had thick mulch on mine!!
Haha great vines!!!
What a grape joke
My thats a lot a berries great work guys. I am planning to get some berries growing very soon. Just need o find out what will grown in England. I think I will start with Goji 💯🐒
Thanks for the encouragement. Gojis are great! I would also look into what is or has been grown where you are. I suspect brambles (Rubus genus) and currants (ribes genus) would be quite common and easy to grow.
Brambles are wild everywhere taking over the woods so I can't get to my favourite spots. So I would not grow them. Umm research is needed for sure. I know raspberries are good too 💯🐒
Goji seem to grow well in more temperate Victoria and we get frost to severe heat so it should hack UK weather...
Yep i've heard they work here just need to get some organic seeds 💯🐒
Or someone with plants or cuttings?
That would be the ideal. But I don't really know anyone in my village 💯🐒
Berries are amazing! Your plants look so healthy. Thank you for the helpful info about the runners. I love the colors of the thornless blackberry in fall! Thank you for always writing inspiring and helpful articles about growing your own food. I find it really helpful. ❤
So glad you enjoyed the post. Aren't those colors grand??? We both love the changing foliage.
It's truly a joy to share and we're happy it's well received. :)
Okay, so save some for us! lol. This is quite a paradise, I can't imagine how wondereful it will be when these are all ready to be picked. The jams you could make ahhhhh! Love it!
Wow those are terrific! I've always loved berries and this just made me love them even more!!
Man the diversities you guys have on your homestead is amazing! I also found some unknown variety of wild blackberry growing everywhere on our property this year. We have sampled a few and they sure are delicious!
My favorite berries are blueberries. We have planted a lot of blueberry plants as part of the understory for the orchard. We get blueberries now while waiting for the fruit trees to start producing.
Thanks for the kind words. We are just getting going on the diversity front, and are hoping to be a bank of useful, rare, delicious and hardy plants. Not quite a seed bank, but a type of repository for genetics.... We've toyed with the idea of nursery and we'll see how the process unfolds.
Thats great to hear about the tasty berries. Blackberries are almost always a hit, only downside is all the thorns. I pick out at least 5 thorns from my hands and feet every day cause we have the wild ones EVERYWHERE. It's funny to me to be weeding thorny blackberries from a thornless blackberry patch, but i still do it.
Blueberries as an understory, what a great idea! Happy that you are getting yields, ours are at least a year off. Thanks for stopping by and commenting ;)
Strawberries are my favorite since they are so easy to grow. Lovely photos. Added benefit of berries...beautiful blooms. I am continually amazed at the variety of plants on your homestead. How large is your spread? Is there varying topology?
We love the flowers too. such a treat to see the pollinators too.
We own 18 acres, but are focused on somewhere around 2 ac (around a hectare). The topography is quite varied, and we have set the well on the high spot with surrounding clearings planted. I'd guess a 3% slope would be the steepest area we're worked on so far. the land overall has a kind of rolling characteristic.
That's a pretty excellent selection of berries! I'd like to read more about the hybrids: Tayberry, Loganberry, Boysenberry.
They are of interest to us as supposedly the flavor is outrageous. I have only tried a few Marion berries, (another similar hybrid) and they were quite delightful. They are known for slighter lower yields that blackberries but with superior taste and lower ship-ability. Best of luck.
Great work, you are doing such a good job. It takes alot to be a successful farmer. Farming ain't easy.........Should incase you dont know berries are good source of vitamins,minerals,antioxidants and phytochemicals. There are different type of berries and they are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.Great post
Thank you for the positive feedback. Farming is a lot of work, and it can be so challenging as well as rewarding. The nutrition is one of the big reasons we're growing them, thanks for sharing.
Fantastic! What a great variety!
I hope you will share what you plan to do with the harvests.
We are currently still living in town (hoping to buy a homestead soon!). But we have several voluntary fruiting plants growing.
A young mulberry tree, a plum tree, and lots of wold blackberries!
Lovely, volunteer plants are so great. Happy to hear you have these friends around. We will start by eating them ALL, until we have WAY too many at which point we will freeze and ferment them.
Hope your homestead purchase goes smoothly. Best of luck!