Thursday, May 24, 2018

Sunny Days - Rainy Afternoons




Well, I walked through the fields last night and took my normal shortcut through the blueberries, to the raspberries and across the wire trellis to the blackberries.  I thought I could handle that move just fine - I have done it for years.  However, this time the wire trellis caught my foot and I fell to the ground and did a big roll toward the blackberries.

I told Les that I'm going to have to give up crossing that wire trellis.  I'm liable to break my hip the next time I try crossing it!  Thankfully I'm fine, although I did find a small tick on my arm when I went in the house!  I guess tick season is here.

Flowering Natchez Blackberries 5.23.18

You can see that the blackberries are growing and looking big.  If we keep having the sunny, warm weather and the good rains it will move them upwards in size and maturity.

I think it will be a large crop this year, but to tell the truth the blackberries have really been a big producer for the last few years.  They aren't having any problems at all.
Duke Blueberries 5.23.18

The blueberries are growing in size, but still green.  I think the first variety may be ready to pick in about 10 days, but it depends on the heat and the rains that we get in the next few days.

I noticed that some of the berries have little whiskers sticking out of their middle.  A few years ago we had a large part of our crop have the little whiskers sticking out and with our late freeze, I think it may have to do with where they were in the flowering stage when the freeze came.

Perhaps part of the flower remained and the stamens are stuck in that center spot.  I'll try to grab a picture of some berries that show that more clearly.



Nova Raspberries 5.23.18
The raspberries are getting larger.  There are still some that are blooming, but you can tell that some berries are set and beginning to grow.  It doesn't look like there will be a big crop of these Nova raspberries.  However, there are some.  I guess you have to count your blessings where you can!

We have a purple variety of raspberries called "Royalty" that look healthier and more vigorous.  Les thinks that they will have a good crop this year, but it is different than the normal look for a raspberry.  It's shaped like a heart and is purple when ripe.  They're also a later berry than the Nova and typically don't ripen until we've been picking berries for a few weeks.

So, God is good - all the time!  I'm thankful I didn't break my hip while crossing the wire trellis and thankful that I saw the tick crawling up my arm.  It's wonderful to have any kind of crop so I can look forward to good days ahead.  See you soon!


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