Blueberry pickin’ time!
Emily was so excited that she got to help me drag the old nets out to cover the blueberry bushes in the back yard. Simple things like letting her hold a little bit of the net and walk behind me, or holding one end while I streched it out made her beam with pride. "I’m helping Daddy cover the blueberries!" she proclaimed loudly to her mom later.Several years back I built an "A-frame" structure out of old electrical conduit and "Key-Clamp" joining castings (discarded flotsam from a disasterous attempt to construct a "Big Top" for the Irish camp) that covers the 10 or so bushes pretty well. This frame allows me to drape the nets over a structure and not the bushes themselves. It makes it easier to get them covered because they don’t get all caught up on the branches and make those veins of impatient-frustration pop out on my neck. It also makes it easier to get in and pick berries, and pickin’ is happening daily! Cathy and Emily brought in a good quart or so today alone. I also trimmed back some of the lower branches on the Linden that seems destined to shade the entire yard soon to allow them a little more light, hopefully they’ll like that! I always try to keep those bushes surrounded by lots of dead Oak leaves (I’ve heard they like acidic soil) but I haven’t had to go out of my way to water them this year its been so wet.
Blueberries are so expensive we always get so mad at ourselves when we forget to net them and the birds end up eating them all. I made sure I got the nets up this year before they had gorged themselves too much on the plump blue gems (they ARE plump too!). Besides, I have an ulterior motive here: now that we’re brewing beer more regularly again (and now in kegs!) I have high hopes that we’ll be making a blueberry beer soon. I’ll let you know if we do!
note: this picture was taken *before* the A-frame was constructed.
Comment posted on 7-29-2003
Emily and I brought in another haul today. She seems to have a pretty good handle on which ones are ripe enough to pick and which need a little more time but when the \’pickable\’ berries start to become scarce at her altitude, she starts to get a little less discriminating. We now have 3 pounds of berries! I\’m not sure how many quarts that translates to, we\’ll let you know!
Comment posted on 7-30-2003
mmmm… Berry backyard blue berries. Yum.
Has Emmy played in those giant nets yet?
Comment posted on 7-30-2003
Sure, to get all the good ones you have to go inside! I assume you saw the pictures? If not, go to the Family Photos link - its at the bottom of the July 2003 page!
Comment posted on 8-4-2003
Tonight\’s take was pretty impressive. I\’ve been checking the ground each time for evidence that I may be waiting too long between pickings, but I only had 4 or 5 on the ground tonight. Cathy washed and weighed them in at 1.5lbs which brings the total so far to something over 4.5lbs of blueberries this season. Of the 10 bushes, only 7 are covered, and only about 4 get enough sun to produce decently. I have to cut back some nearby tree branches and open it up a bit more to get better production. Plans include Blueberry beer, blueberry jam and of course, blueberries and cream!
Comment posted on 8-6-2003
I have tried and failed to find the pictures or the July 2003 link.
Comment posted on 8-6-2003
The family photos are at http://family.in8sworld.net.
Direct link is
http://family.in8sworld.net/2003-07/2003-07.html
Comment posted on 8-10-2003
More picking was done after I had mowed and trimmed hedges today. An impressive bunch, and quite ripe. Not as many under-ripe ones today since Emily had been inside while I was mowing and I didn\’t tell her I was going to pick them (saving time on the mandatory kids bath after picking since there are lots of ticks where I live). These will probably just get eaten up, since we have enough for the several blueberry projects and there are still some on the bushes anyway. Probably enough for another good haul.
Comment posted on 8-16-2003
Took the nets down (with Emily\’s help) after our return from Vermont. There was a paultry 6 berries ripe, and though there were some left on the bushes yet to ripen up, there weren\’t enough to come back out again.
Comment posted on 6-27-2005
It may not be that obvious in the picture in this story, but there are
several blueberry bushes in a row behind the row shown that are in
perpetual shade due to the Linden behind them. This weekend I
managed to get three of them moved to the foreground (I hope to
eventually have three rows of them in what used to be my dad’s
garden). Hopefully they’ll take to their new location, I moved them
right before the rain came so they will get a nice dousing.
Comment posted on 7-23-2005
So far they have survived. Two of them have really taken to the new
location (lots more sun), while the other was in the middle of making
berries when I transplanted it - not smart. However, even this one is still
alive although it seems to have taken the greates shock.