Every year I celebrate my first raspberry harvest. This year is no exception. The first raspberry was eaten off the cane on Monday July 14th. Wait did I say July? Silly me. Usually it is July. This year it was June 14th. Last year I didn't write it down but it was mid July sometime (about a week later than normal). In 2008 it was July 7th. Mostly I think about raspberries just starting to come in on July 4th.
I don't think I've ever had a harvest this early. I think of June as strawberry season. I've probably gotten one or two berries at the end of June before, but never mid June. Most of the harvest this year will probably be in June as the summer harvest lasts two to three weeks. Typically at least.
Who knows what this weird year will bring? But just by looking at the vines, it looks like all the rain we have had will make the harvest prolific. I'm anticipating a lot of raspberry sorbet to beat the heat.
Mine have started ripening too...but I only have a few small plants and the birds are getting there before me.
ReplyDeleteYUM. I need to find a space for some raspberries....
ReplyDeleteGood for you! The blackberries are starting to come in, too...
ReplyDeleteI think about raspberries, but I have the idea they expand like crazy?
ReplyDeleteI hope you get a great harvest this year! I'm excited because by the looks of things, I might get one myself from the canes I purchased earlier this spring.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I've yet to have trouble with the birds eating them. Now the evil chipmunks are another matter. They will slowly climb up trying not to injure their feet. Then they will eat every ripe berry on the plant. At least for the summer berries. For the fall flush I think they have so much to eat that they don't bother.
ReplyDeleteAli, You should. Just make sure it is paved in all directions.
EG, I wish I had some blackberries too. Blackberry ice cream is to die for.
Karen Anne, Yes the do. They really have designs for taking over the world. I constantly weed them out of the blueberries, but at the new house they will have all four sides in hardscape. That ought to slow them down.
Thomas, I hope you do, but it will just taunt you until they grow bigger and you get a ton. One taste is never enough.
Mine were early, too. I've been eating them for a couple of weeks now. Last year I got my first berry on June 23, but it was also from brand new canes.
ReplyDeleteAli could plant some where she could mow both sides of the row. I used to have mine like that, and it was much easier than trying to keep the suckers pulled from where they're growing outside of the raised bed.
The raspberries look great! We just planted a raspberry plant this year, we can't wait for it to get larger!
ReplyDeleteMy raspberries are way behind this year, still green and small. East side of the country is stealing all the heat from us. It's June 17th and us at pacific northwest are yet to reach 75. (can you believe?). Yours look abundant and yummy. Please do pics of raspberry harvest and cool sorbet :) Good Luck with your move and gardening.
ReplyDeleteWow a beautiful ripe raspberry! It looks like you'll have a lot of berries this summer. Oh I'm so jealous!!!! I LOVE Raspberries and they won't grow in my climate.
ReplyDeleteI am glad they expand like crazy. I just planted raspberries for the first time this spring and so far they seem to be taking things slowly. maybe it is my dry weather, I wonder if I should water them more. I definitely want a raspberry bed as full as yours, I am envious!
ReplyDeleteOur raspberry bed definitely responded well to my rejuvenation efforts earlier this spring. We are several weeks away from any ripe ones though and if we don't warm up at least a bit soon... may never get a ripe berry! My strawberries are sulking too.
ReplyDeleteAnnie's Granny, I'm guessing next year you will be even earlier since this year your weather has been so abnormally cold. Yeah I don't want mine in a place that needs to be pulled anymore. I think between the house, two bulkheads and the hardscaped path ought to work. I'm hoping. Then the raspberries will be so easy.
ReplyDeletememsnyc, good luck with yours. If you get lots of rain then they will spread like crazy.
fenugreeklove, Yes I'm so shocked. Last year it was just the opposite. You had some really high heat and we were stuck in the cold and drizzle all June (mostly highs in the 50s and 60s last year in June). And never fear you will get sick of those pretty raspberry photos by the end of the year if that is possible. My raspberries are ever bearers that give a summer and a fall crop so I harvest for a long time.
A Kitchen Garden in Kihei Maui, thanks. Oh that is too bad. But you can grow bananas and citrus. I so wish I could grow those. Oh and ginger. And mangos. And Pineapples. And passion fruit The list is long.
Angela, raspberries grow best with a lot of rain. That is why the grow so well for me. I never water them, but here we get about 4" of rain every month. The first year they have to get their roots under them. After that they take off. My mom lives in Colorado and can't get them to grow at all for her, but I've seen them growing wild there near seepage areas. Where she is it is deathly dry.
kitsapFG, well never fear we had the June of no high temps last year. We barely made it out of the 60s and were often with a high in the 50s. My berries were late, but they were still prolific.
Dang it those look great. Wish I was your neighbor.
ReplyDeleteWeird weather, early raspberries, global climate change. It's all connected. My blackberries are just now coming ripe. I have them in nursery pots buried in the ground so they won't take over the garden. This is their second year in my garden and I may actually get some berries this summer.
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