Too wet to post pictures of the blueberries they are all drooping, we had over an inch and half of rain in the last 36hrs. I did manage to side step the rain and pick these.

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That is a lot of blueberries.

those strawberries look amazing! what are you doing to keep them from going soft from laying on the ground?

Great pictures Blueboy, give me a couple days and I will post some pics of mine. Swamped with work tomorrow but will try to get them posted soon. Thanks for sharing

RM

Great pictures! That starwberries look delicious.

I have yellow alpine grow from seed bearing this year. it is so aromatic, smell like pineapple when fully ripe. However, usually the squirrals and chipmonk got them first. I need to hire a cat to patrol the garden this summer. Here is my strawberry:
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Duke BB is a heavy producer:
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Berkely:
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Jersey:
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Chandler babies are born larger than the rest:
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I thinned some berry off the clust to max. the size of the berry. This was inspired by RM after he post forum of a practice of thinning the berries. I am not sure if I did it correctly, but thanks RM .

Looking good Blueboy. Mine are looking a bit ugly at the moment as I just pruned 1/4 of the top of each plant from the main bed. The back bed gets a bit less light so is slower and it will get it's pruning next week. Almost all the high bush BB here are done fruiting. The rabbiteye fruit is still green so things are a bit slow here. Like you I am picking some blackberries, Kiowa and Natchez the ouachita blackberries are just starting to bloom.

Great looking pics!!! Olympia, you have some healty looking plants. Is this the first year for your plants to fruit? Ive read that Chandler has some of the largest BB!

Thanks RM! Cant wait to see your plants man! They were impressive last year and should be loaded with fruit now? Are all yours nothern varieties?

Bam, do you just cut off the tops or do you thin out aswell? My Emerald and Sunshine Blue were so thick after the spring flush I had a hard time finding my berries. I cut the tops of the new shoots to slow them down and also thinned out probably 1/3 of the plant for light and air circulation. Also how many canes do you leave on your plants? Im afriad I may be pushing Emerald too hard cause its got 6 thick canes from last year and 5 more coming on strong as I type. At what point is it too much??? Or am I just over killing it again? Not sure if you have Brightwell in your Rabbiteye collection but if not, I highly recommend it! Hands down the best taste of all my Rabbiteyes so far.

Beautiful plants Olympia, very healthy, good looking fruit too. You will have some nice berries before too long. Are you in Olympia Washington? Your plants look to be at about the same stage as mine.

Blueboy, I wanted to take some picture today after work but we were having some really strong winds today so I will have to try again tomorrow. Yes my plants are all Northern Highbush varities and are at about the same stage as Olympias are at. I have Reka, Chandler, Bluecrop, Darrow, Chandler, Northcountry, and Jersey. My favorite for flavor is Darrow but my Rekas grow the best in this climate. I have lots of berries on some, just a few berries on others. About half my plants (I have 22 total) are only starting their second year so I pulled most of the berries off them.......will let them fruit next year. Thus far I have fertilized twice, both times with 21-0-0 and they look really good so far, good growth, some 6 inches or more already this spring.

RM

I heavily mulch my bed with whatever free organic matter i can find, helps keep in the moisture and berries off the soil. Here I used pine tree trimmings and leaves, last year it was grass clippings and straw.

Shot of Jewel June Bearing Strawberry and Mulch
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My 2 Jewels
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A close up of Northland
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Darrow, You can see a flower still left, and the slit the carpenter bee makes when robs the pollen.
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Duke
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MoleX, WOW, Good looking plants and lot of berries. Guess the rain really helped.

I planted these in late summer/fall of 2010 when HomeDepot had them on sale for a little over $3 each in 2 gl container. They weren't in very good shape,all leftovers,lost most of the leaves, but structurely were still sound...decent size and decent price, Can't pass the deal so I grabed whole bunch home. Last year, they grew and flowered, and had some small fruits. I don't remember I had tasted any of my blue berries. The squirrels + chipmonks + birds got the best ones. All left for me are naturally dry/undeveloped blue berries.
These plants are part of edible landscape, interplanted with annuals and preannuals in front yard. I not only lost berries, but also lost planted lily bulbs and tulips nearby last year. I noticed that only bulbs the squirrel/chipmonks don't eat is daffodil. This year, when i planted new Lily bulbs, I also planted whole bunch of onions, garlic, shallots and daffodil near/around the lily bulbs. This seems working so far, I didn't see any dug up bulbs yet. The resident squirrels may not have noticed these blue berrier yet, but once burries start to ripe, things can change over night. But I keep my fingers crossed and prepare for the worst. I since, also adopted a cat with sharp claws!

I bought Chandler early last month when Home Depot had sale for $4 each... great deal, very healty, strong plants, tons of flowers. I bought whole bunch for friends and family as well. I read somewhere that it bears the largest berries with good taste. Another berry in my list is Herbet. I read, it has excellent, one of the best berry flavor, medium size berry. If anyone in the forum grows Herbet, please comment on its flavor. Blueboy shares that his Brightwell Rabbiteye has very sweet taste. I don't know if Brightwell Rabbiteye will grow well in zone 5 or not. If it will, I would add it into my wishing list as well. My blueberry collection is growing.

RM, I love the lushes green and pacific ocean mist of Olympia. Only an hour to beautiful Victoria of BC by ferry! Costal Washington States is one of my ideal place to live. The climate is mild , seafood is so fresh and affordable. Every time I am in the area, my breakfast, lunch, dinner is fish, crab, clam... anything from the water. I would like to buy a piece of land there to start my garden when I retire. Unfortunately, I am in the suburb of the windy city with highest sales tax in the country, multiple governors serving prison terms currently, and the county, state couldn't balance the budget...Anyway in a deep S%$#t!Gardening is equivalent of orstrach buries its head into the sand, to forget the problem temporary...

MoleX, Sweet plants Dude!!! That Jewel is a stunner! What a nice looking plant man! Ive got 2 Jewels but they are really small right now, tissue culture from FHN. Interesting you grow low chill SHB and NHB. What part of the country are you in?

MoleX...........those are some beautiful plants!

I finally got around to taking a few pictures of my garden this evening, hope you guys enjoy them.

First pic is of my blueberry patch......which I intend to grow when my wife isn't watching....he he he he

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Three year old Reka.....my favorite variety, grows fast, great wild blueberry flavor kind of like a huckleberry.

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Three year old Darrow...not many berries on this plant but the flavor is excellent

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Chandler berries..

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Jersey...this plant is growing like crazy but wants to grow out and not up!

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This is a four year old Chippewa. I heavily pruned this plant this past winter and also pulled most of the blooms off of it in an attempt to get it to grow larger. If it doesn't get much larger I am going to cull it out.

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This is a two year old bluecrop.......last year this plant didn't look very good but this spring it's really taking off. I think the plant is finally getting some root under it.

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A second year Chandler.......its starting to take off

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Chandler berries...

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Finally I had to show you guys my raspberries. I throw several boxes of apples and pears on them each fall and they love it!

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You can see all the raspberries coming on...

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Finally, this is my boysenberries. A friend gave me two little sprouts off his plants last summer that were just a couple inches tall. I had trouble getting them to grow at first but they finally took off. This year I have blooms and will soon get my first berries. These are fun to grow and I may plant more of them.

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Fine job RM! Your plants look great. I like the look of the Chippewa, sweet plant man! What happend to all the 1/2 wine barrels??? Looks like you put everything in the ground?

Thanks Blueboy, yea I put everything in the ground because my experimental plants in the ground did so well last year. Dug holes about 20 inches deep and 20 inches across. Filled with a mix of fir bark, peat, and soil and they are doing really well. In the ground they seem to drain better and I don't have to worry about them getting hurt by cold weather in the winter. Native soils here have a ph of about 7 so I will continue to mulch with peat and pine.

The Chippewa is a nice plant but the two I have are both less than 4' tall and won't ever produce much unless I can get them bigger. I'm happy with the way the plants are growing this summer, lots of new growth. I would like to put in about twice the number of plants I currently have. I have lots of lawn space that could be growing blueberries! lol.

RM

Am I the only one who noticed the little farmer in the fashionable green garden boots? Does dad wear the same style??.lol ;-)

Thanks guys, this forum has helped a lot, I grow both SHB and NHB, I live in Brooklyn NY, and am surrounded by a pretty decent micro-climate, supposedly we got bumped to 7a from 6b, but I am not about to sell off the snow-thrower.

Not pictured for now, are a Legacy, Berkley, Jersey(s) and Coville. This spring Jewel starting flowering a week before everything but but both Duke and Northland provided excellent pollination. Both SHBs are loaded, the Jewels were purchased as 2gals and gifted to me two years ago.

They have survived this year of no snow cover, and 2010 were we had snow on the ground well into April.

Jewel in my experience seems to be a very hardy cultivar.

All the berries look so happy.
blueboy,seeing your Rabbiteyes each time makes me want try growing them.Nice looking Woodard.
riverman,Chippewa is a half high and only grows to about four feet.I'll get a photo of mine in here.It has the most berries of all my plants.
Great job people. Brady

Thats some funny sh@# Blaze!!!! LOL!!!! I didnt realize my son was in the pic untill I had already posted it. My bad!!! He does like to cruize around in his nut huggers with rubber boots. The apple doesnt fall far from the tree I guess! I have been told by my neighbors to put some cloths on when Im in the back yard. They have a two story house and can see right into my back yard. Everynow and then I will strole through the garden in my underware and rubber boots as well. Guilty as charged!

Blueboy,

Sorry for the slow reply, we have been fishing on the gulf.

The summer prune is my big prune. I could thin in winter also but as a rule I just remove the scrubby growth from the base then as the ducks would just eat those berries anyway.

My sunshines are just now producing well which I like as their fruit ripens between the highbush and the rabbits.

Man how many canes is a tricky question...Some of my windsors only have 3 canes which is their choice not mine. Others such as Southern belle have upwards of 20 canes. They just all grow so differently. I generally like to have 6-8. As long as the canes they push are thick I would not worry about it at all.

I do have a single Brightwell rabbit and I like it too.

Brady......I knew they were half-highs but these are like one-third highs, lol. They have more berries than most of my other plants too but the berries are small....not much larger than a huckleberry. Is this true for your plants too?

RM

RM,I guess they are small now,but still green.Fall Creek says they have the largest berry of the half highs.
Here's a few pics. Brady

Chippewa
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Bluegold
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Reka
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Tophat
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Two oddities,a Pink Champagne,related to the Pink Lemonade
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and a Razz Blueberry that's suppose to taste like Raspberry
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Some hardwood cuttings taken last year.Are yours doing anything RM?
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Misty
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Bountiful Blue
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Sunshine Blueberry
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Sunshine Blueberries in the morning sun
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Great pictures, guys. I have couple of Chippewa , they have tons of flower but small fruits. No my favorite. Now I see the potentail. I might need to thin more berries off the branches. That Sunshine has sooo many flowers. Mine did not do very well this year, but I hope next year will be better.

Some great looking plants Brady.

I tried 10 hardwood cuttings and got zero, zilch to grow. I will try again next year, not sure what I did wrong.

It's interesting to see the leaves on your plants versus mine...west to east. Maybe it just the way the photo was taken but your leaves look slightly larger on average than mine do. A local grower was telling me he measured the average leaf size on a plants on the west side (Oregon) and found they are about 30% larger on average for same plant variety. This kind of makes sense when you think about the heat we have on this side versus where you are at. A smaller leaf surface would help conserve water. I think the berries on your Chippewa look bigger than those I had last year....mine were really tiny and way too many of them on one plant.

The Chippewa grows like a dense shrub whereas the Reka, Bluecrop, etc. are more spindly. I thinned out my Chippewas this past winter by probably 50% and it has lots of new shoots coming up and wants to be a shrub again.

Here's one of my Reka, this plant is 4 1/2 feet tall or so.

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Then here's a Chippewa which is maybe three feet tall growing right next to the Reka:
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blueboy...is there any other way to enjoy the garden on a nice day??? ;-)

About those hardwood cuttings in the pics above. Do they root well like that?

blazeaglory,
They will root, but take longer than softwood cuttings.They are also more heat tolerant than soft cuttings during root development.
I'm going to be taking some soft cuttings in June and put them in a misting box,which helps a lot as they grow their roots. Brady