Crazy bad year for blackberries.

Here it is August 1st, and the blackberries around here are still blooming! There have been a handful from some of the bushes along the roads, but it's looking grim for a cider this year or a freezer full for future torts and crumbles.

Tomatoes are sparse and forget any hops!

The raspberry bushes, on the other hand, are duk'n it out with the blueberries and the Hood strawberries have invaded the lawn. Never though I'd be taking the weed whacker to either, but I do on a weekly basis (not the blueberries though).

Do you have olallieberries up there? I love blackberry jam, but I picked up some olallieberry jam from a fruit farm near Monterey CA and it's great stuff. Had a olallieberry pie too. Mmmmm!

Lots of things are struggling this year. We've had some rain lately, but it's been dry all summer. South of us there are golden fields of corn. Which should be very green and lush.

Our apple and cherry crop is going to be terrible.

We have a great blackberry crop this year!

But not one apple, crabapple, or chokecherry bush has a bit of fruit on it. We've made at least 15 gallons of chokecherry wine a year for the last 10 years or so, and this year we have zip. The same with the apples/crabapples- we won't be able to make any wine at all this year.

For us, it got to be over 80 degrees in March and the snow melted and the trees started blossoming. But then the temperature dropped in April and killed all of the young fruit that started too early.

We got some rain last week, so we're no longer in "extreme drought" but it's still very dry.

What really makes me need a hug is the beautiful Mulberry trees in Astoria (yes, you heard that right) that were bearing HUGE delicious looking mulberries. Perfect for a mead!

Except for the fact that our soil has enough cadmium and lead in it to outfit Kvothe's alchemy room. Argh!

Heavy Metal Wine! I can think of a few good labels you could print up!

olallieberries? No, and looks like they don't grow well around here. We do plan on adding lingonberries this year. Maybe a mulberry tree at the country place, too big for this property.

We finally broke 80F and went straight to 102. I believe that's for the first time since 2009. Maybe the blackberries will come through.

Had blackberry jam tonight with dinner. Bought it fresh from the farm. Yum.

I have crazy big blackberries around my place.

David, down here in So Oregon, the blackberries are just now starting to be pickable. The last few days of 100+ weather has really peaked their interest. As well as the tomatoes for that matter. SWMBO and the outlaw are making seedless blackberry jam as I type this.

I have noticed the area's that had more water are a little more advanced than the fields that didn't. My grandma has a field that she flood irrigates and the blackberries are ginormous (usually). They aren't that big yet this year.

Still not seeing many blackberries, but we'll be down to check again in a week. Lots of new canes, though. They're trying to choke off the driveway!

After 8 years of struggling, the gala apple trees had some fruit on them. Deer got all of the fruit, most of the leaves and ripped most of the branches off last week. We are probably going to limit ourselves to nut trees down there, except for the mulberry. To my amazement, the butternut trees are both doing well. Took them 7 years to get started. The English walnut might make it as well. The cooler weather seems to be what they were waiting for, plus Kellie has been watering all of the trees and bushes every time we make a run down. Last weekend, I realized that my garden roller was just a 35 gallon water tank with a handle. MUCH easier to deep water the trees downslope.

Just picked a few pounds last night. Going out for more tonight. They are starting to turn.

The blackberries are in full swing near my house. I'm up to 14lbs, hoping to reach 20 by tonight so I can make 5gal of blackberry wine!

I picked 4lbs of blackberries last week here in Portland. Lots more available I'm just too lazy to get them.

4lbs is just what I needed for my "Little Blue Pils." Last year was blackberry brown. This year I wanted something different. No blackberry wheat either. I've done so many fruit wheat beers.

Finally have a few blackberries! The canes down at the bottom of the driveway started ripening, so we picked a couple quarts. Just Himalayans, though, and just that one area. The Oregon Evergreens are still totally green and about the size of peas. There are stretches along the fence and upper driveway that are completely bare this year.

Went nuts over the 8/9 Sept. weekend. We picked about 40 lbs of blackberries and 3 gallons of sweet cherries. The cherry tree is down in a drainage ditch and I never paid any attention to it, but my wife decided to taste them, pick them, and take cuttings for rooting!

By the way, she introduced me to rose gloves. They block 95% of the thorns and run up to your elbows. We each wore one for grabbing canes and picked with the other hand. It really speeds up the picking and getting to the clusters a couple feet into the bramble without losing blood is great.

david_42 said:

Went nuts over the 8/9 Sept. weekend. We picked about 40 lbs of blackberries and 3 gallons of sweet cherries. The cherry tree is down in a drainage ditch and I never paid any attention to it, but my wife decided to taste them, pick them, and take cuttings for rooting!

By the way, she introduced me to rose gloves. They block 95% of the thorns and run up to your elbows. We each wore one for grabbing canes and picked with the other hand. It really speeds up the picking and getting to the clusters a couple feet into the bramble without losing blood is great.

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Do you loose the tactile feeling with rose gloves? I have wore gloves in the past but I end up squishing lots of berries because I can't feel them as well.

We only wear one glove to hold canes and pick with the bare hand. It really is amazing how much it helps.

here in Tualatin oregon we have been picking black berries for a few weeks now and just got like ten pounds Saturday on the side of the path to the local park on the way home from playing with the kids. made some yummy blackberry cobbler and froze the rest!

Yeah, but my country place is up in the coastal hills and in a different climate zone. In fact, it lags the town just south (5 mi and 500 ft lower) of the property by 3-4 weeks in the Spring and for any ripening.

david_42 said:

Yeah, but my country place is up in the coastal hills and in a different climate zone. In fact, it lags the town just south (5 mi and 500 ft lower) of the property by 3-4 weeks in the Spring and for any ripening.

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bummer! sounds like you need to take a day trip to some good river banks and load up!:rockin: we usually hit the rivers up and get more than we even know what to do with.

We've had an ok season here. There is a patch at my mom's house that is maybe 50' long that we pick every year.

This year has been noticeably lighter averaging 13-16lbs a picking every two weeks. I just went out there today and picked more and only came home with 6lbs, that's likely the last picking of the year for me as such a low yeild just isn't worth it.

Fortunately I have 6gal of a backberry wheat going, and another 20+lbs vacuum sealed in the freezer for meads & ciders and maybe a jam depending on how much my wife bugs me

Tomatoes were late because of cold and rain but they caught up ok.

Our best blackberry crop ever here, raspberries too. A lot of other crops really struggled with the heat and drought this summer, though. Our peaches were just far enough South to avoid the late frost that wiped out the Michigan fruit crops this year.