The Secrets of a Big Harvest: Why You Should Plant Your Own Berries
Your own berry patch gives you full control over how good your fruit is, because you can choose the right sorts for your weather and you can watch them to see if they are healthy and decide when and how to get the fruit.
This not only helps you save money but also lets you have berries from early spring to late autumn, and many berry plants are easy to care for and can grow in almost any place, and if you take care of them the right way, checking their health with plant identification app Android, they will give you a lot of fruit for many years.
Strawberries and Wild Strawberries: Choosing Sorts, Making Beds, Caring for Them in the Season
Choosing Sorts
Choosing the right sort is the first and most important step to get a lot of fruit, and you can put all sorts of strawberries and wild strawberries into a few groups.
Sorts that give fruit one time: These sorts give fruit one time in the season, usually in the early summer, and their fruits are big and they smell very nice, which is why they are perfect if you want to collect a lot of fruit for making things later.
Sorts that give fruit many times: These sorts give fruit a few times in the season, from spring to autumn, and their fruits can be a little smaller, but you will have fresh strawberries all summer.
Sorts that do not care about light: These sorts give fruit all the time no matter how long the day is, so they are perfect for growing in pots or in greenhouses.
Making Beds
To make strawberries grow well, they need a good bed, so you must choose a place that has a lot of sun and is open to the wind, and strawberries do not like to be near potatoes or tomatoes, because those plants have some of the same bad bugs.
Soil: Strawberries like soil that is light and has a lot of good things in it and is a little acidic.
If the soil in your garden is heavy and has a lot of clay, you can add sand, peat, and compost to it.
Fertilizer: Before you plant, you should put good things in the soil like compost or manure and also some mineral things that are good for them.
Making the Bed: It is a good idea to make the beds a little high, about cm tall, because this will help the water to go away and make the soil warmer.
The best space between rows is about 60 to 70 cm, and between the small plants is about 25 to 30 cm.
Covering the Soil: After you plant them, you can cover the beds with hay, sawdust, or a special cloth to keep the soil wet and to keep the fruit from touching the ground and to stop bad plants from growing.
Care in the Season
Watering: Strawberries like water, especially when they have flowers and fruit, so you should water them often but not too much so the water does not sit in one place, and the best way is to use a special watering system.
Giving Them Food:
Spring: In the early spring, after the snow is gone, you should give them things that help the green leaves grow.
Flowering: When they have flowers and start to make fruit, you should use good plant food with more phosphorus and potassium.
After getting the fruit: You should give the plants good food to help them feel better and get ready for the next season.
Taking Out Bad Plants and Loosening the Soil: You should always take out the bad plants because they take good things from the strawberries, and after you water or after it rains, you should loosen the soil so the roots can get air.
Taking Out New Shoots: The long shoots that come from the plants take their power away.
To get a lot of good fruit, you should take them out often, but you can leave a few if you want to grow more plants.
Raspberries and Blackberries: Planting, Cutting, Tying
Raspberries and blackberries are plants that need a special way of care, but if you plant and care for them well, they will give a lot of fruit for you.
Planting
Place: You must choose a place that has a lot of sun and is safe from strong wind, and the soil must be rich and light and let water go through it well, because raspberries do not like too much water.
Soil: Before you plant them, you should put good things in the soil like manure or compost and also some good mineral food for them.
Ways to Plant:
In a Long Hole: You can dig a long hole about 40 to 50 cm deep and 50 to 60 cm wide.
In the bottom of the hole, you should put a layer of good plant food, then a layer of rich soil, and the space between the small plants should be about 50 to 70 cm.
In a Hole: You can dig holes about 40x40x40 cm, and the space between the holes should be about 1 to 1.5 metres.
The Root Part: When you plant, the root part of the plant should be about 2 to 3 cm below the ground, and after you plant them, you must give them a lot of water.
Cutting
Cutting is a key to making your raspberries and blackberries healthy and give a lot of fruit.
Raspberries:
Spring: You should take out the thin and hurt branches. You should leave the strongest branches, about 8 to 10 in a metre, and you should cut them shorter by about 15 to 20 cm.
After getting the fruit: You must take out all the branches that have already given fruit, because they will not give any more, and this helps new branches to grow.
Blackberries:
Spring: You should take out the hurt and thin branches, and also the branches that gave fruit last year.
After getting the fruit: You should cut off all the branches that gave fruit this year.
Tying
The branches of raspberries and blackberries can be very long and heavy, so you must tie them so they do not break from the weight of the fruit and fall on the ground.
Ways to Tie:
On a Wire: You can put up poles that are about 1.5 to 2 metres high and put wire between them in 2 or 3 lines, and you should tie the branches to the wire as they grow.
On a Stick: You can use a stick for each plant, which is good for when you plant them in a hole.
Currants and Gooseberries: How to Care for the Plants, How to Protect Them from Bad Bugs
How to Care for the Plants
Watering: These plants do not like the soil to be too dry, especially when they are making fruit, so you should water them often but not too much.
Giving Them Food:
Early Spring: You should give them things that help them grow green leaves.
After Flowering: You should give them a mix of good food.
Autumn: You should give them things that help them get ready for the winter.
Cutting: Cutting currants and gooseberries is something you must do to get a lot of fruit.
Black Currants: You should take out the old branches more than 5 or 6 years old and the dry and weak ones. The best branches for fruit are 1 to 3 years old.
Red and White Currants: These sorts have fruit on older branches, so you can take out branches that are older than 8 or 10 years.
Gooseberries: You should always cut out the old, sick, and crowded branches, and you should leave about 5 to 7 strong new branches.
Protecting from Bad Bugs
The most common bad bugs for these plants are little bugs and small moths that eat the leaves and fruit.
Little Bugs: To fight them, you can use a mix of soap and water, but if there are too many, you should use special bug spray.
Small Moths: To struggle with them, you should use bug spray when the plants have flowers.
Small Flies: Using bug spray before the flowers come out and after you get the fruit will help protect the plants.
Collecting and Storing: When and How to Get the Berries, How to Save Them
When and How to Get the Berries
Strawberries and Wild Strawberries: You should get the berries on a day that is dry and sunny, in the morning or in the evening when the sun is not so strong.
You should get them with their small green leaf part and a little of the stem, because they will stay good for longer.
Raspberries and Blackberries: You should get raspberries when they come off the plant easily. Blackberries should be very black and soft.
Currants and Gooseberries: You can get these berries in groups or one by one, and you should get gooseberries when they are the right size and color.
How to Save the Berries
Freezing: You should wash the berries, make them dry, and freeze them in a flat dish in one layer, and then you can put them in bags or boxes.
Frozen berries keep most of their good things and are great for drinks and for making food.
Drying: You can dry the berries in a special machine or outside in a place with shade — dried berries are good for tea.
Jam, Jelly, Juice: Jam is not only good to eat but also a great way to save the fruit for the long winter.