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Fruit & Orchards

Blackberry, Blueberry, Raspberry Recomendations

13 years ago

Hello everyone I was hoping I might get some recomendations from everyone who has already been there and done that. My wife and I are new home owners in a city, so we have a tiny backyard. I want to have a little of everything in the garden. At the moment we have a bunch of raised beds and a rabbit run in our garden which measures 30 feet by 40 feet with a shed and considerable shading from neighbor's tree and forsethia bushes along the back fence.

I want to plant an early, mid, and late season blueberry and blackberry suited to our climate any recomendations on varieties? I may be able to find some blackberries but I think I will have to hold off a year sadly on blueberries as my soil isn't very acidic at the moment. Would still like to know what varieties to get.

I would also like to plant a raspberry patch along a sunny fence and possibly a strawberry patch as well any thoughts?

I plan to get gooseberries but sadly all the nurseries either don't ship to MA or seem to be out at this point. Would love to get some to suprise my English wife.

Thanks for any ideas.

Don

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Comments (4)

girlbug2
13 years ago
You know, if your soil isn't acidic enough for blueberries, you could always plant some in containers. I have the same problem, so this year I bought a Sunshine Blue blueberry and planted it in a 3 gallon? container. It is supposed to be a natural dwarf variety. Already I am harvesting berries from it and they are very good.

Try One Green World for blueberries right now.
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brookw_gw
13 years ago
Don, It's really too late now to obtain good plant materials, but it is a great time to prepare those beds for planting next year. For the blueberries, you'll want to acidify and add as much organic matter to the soil as you can. Be aware that all these plants get quite large, and the blackberries will require trellising. For simplicity's sake, I'd start off with the standard Bluecrop for blueberries, Triple Crown for blackberries, and Caroline or Prelude for red raspberries.

Brook
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I live in Southern California in the desert. It gets HOT here. I just ordered 3 blueberries for my climate from Burnt Ridge Nurseries. This was an online order. I ordered SUNSHINE BLUE BLUEBERRY , SHARPBLUE BLUEBERRY, O'NEAL BLUEBERRY. They all arrived (not in little pots like other online orders, but in wet peat rich soil with their poor little roots exposed. There was wet newspaper over all 3, and they were wrapped in plastic, and then in one carton. Burnt Ridge has good customer service and fast shipping. Just not sure they treated my plants too nicely. I have carefully planted them with lots of peat, enhanced with sulfate of ammonia in 3 gal pots. They are topped with a couple inches of mulch. I have a neato little tool to check soil moisture. It was cheap. I got that online also. It's called a soil sleuth. Google it. When you think something is dry, because the top is, you would be amazed how damp the lower dirt is. I'll be monitoring my blueberries because I know they like it damp. Suzi
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I have a large black raspberry patch and would be interested in trading for maybe some pink lily of the valley, peony, or other perennials. I don't really have room for more berries (although I wish I did).. Would you be looking to trade this fall or next spring? The black raspberries spread quickly and I should have a ton of new plants next spring.. I don't usually check on the Exchange forum so if you don't hear back from me feel free to send an email. Laura.
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glenn_russell
13 years ago
I'll second Brook's Triple Crown, Caroline and Prelude. I'm not as into Blueberries, but BlueCrop has been good to me too. Anne and Kiwi Gold are good yellow raspberries.
-Glenn
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aprile421
13 years ago
I live in SE Ma. We have Blueberries, Blackberries and raspberries.

If you want Blueberries you can go to the nursury and pick up plants with Blueberries already on them. They aren't ripe yet but most are loaded. We planted 6 plants last year and decided we wanted to add another 6 more this year. We went today infact and got the other 6 which are loaded with berries.

We have a few different varieties. Northland, Bluejay, Duke and Berkley.

With the Blackberry and Raspberries we put them in last year in August. We got a small crop of both in late September. They are both blooming and loaded with berries that should be ripe sometime in July? I am guessing. They are everbearing plants and I am told will again bloom and produce late fall. I will have to look for the names on these as I don't remember off the top of my head.

I hope this helps. Maybe you can get lucky and find some blueberry bushes like I did with berries on and suprise your wife.
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