Blueberries - good crop this year

[Granite26]

We love fresh blueberries and had a pretty good crop this year. One of our favorites is a handful on top of freshly made vanilla ice cream and another is blueberry scones

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Those look devine, I'd love to stop by for tea around 3pm!

I look forward to picking wild blueberries soon, my father in law called to report he'd started picking up by him this week.

[Granite26]

Oooooooh the wild ones are great in scones! I hope you get a ton!

[rxkeith]

the wild blueberries here on the farm are ripe. we pick as much as we can while we can. we add them to our oats in the morning, and to smoothies. we don't do much baking, but we will make a pie or muffins now and then. crop here is really good in some patches, and not so good in others. not sure if some patches take a year off, or may have been hit by frost at the wrong time. we like at least 7 gallons in the freezer. more is better though.



keith

[Boutique Tomatoes]

I love to dehydrate them to blueberry raisins and use those in scones, no blue streaking in the dough and a very nice texture.

If it's a good year for berries my FIL will quit fishing to pick berries while they're on, he loves it and scouts all over NW Wisconsin and the UP. I'm hoping to hear he's found a good patch soon so I can take the kids up; we try to make sure they don't have to work too hard to fill a pail.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Originally Posted by rxkeith

the wild blueberries here on the farm are ripe. we pick as much as we can while we can. we add them to our oats in the morning, and to smoothies. we don't do much baking, but we will make a pie or muffins now and then. crop here is really good in some patches, and not so good in others. not sure if some patches take a year off, or may have been hit by frost at the wrong time. we like at least 7 gallons in the freezer. more is better though.



keith

Two or three years ago I remember my MIL telling him it was time to stop when he had 60 quarts in the freezer. That was an exceptional year though. I've got to go up to the farm with the boys soon, so I'm hoping for a 2fer trip, doing some modifications to my deer stand and picking berries. If we could work in catching a limit of bluegills it would be a great day for everyone.

[Mudman]

Yep, like Mark, I will be over shortly.

[fortyonenorth]

We've had the best (wild) blueberry crop in the six years we've lived here - by a longshot. Tons and tons of berries beginning in June and continuing still.

[BigBrownDogHouse]

Your picture looks outstanding.....bet it tasted even better.

I love blueberries and just had some of the best I ever had last weekend at a Farmer's Market.
They were handing out little cups of frozen blueberries. They were absolutely amazing.

It must be a great year for them.

[ddsack]

We usually combine a Canadian fishing trip with wild blueberry picking in late July or August. There are always recent backroads clearcuts that can provide excellent picking for a few years until they brush up too much. This year they had frosts after the early warmup, and then lots of heat with not too much rain. Crop was generally poor, as it was last year. Hope next year is a bumper crop. We normally come home with 8-10 gallons of berries, this year we barely got 2. Heading home pulling our boat, we carelessly took a wrong turn and actually found a new cut that wasn't too bad, but it was too late to pick long. Can't wait to try that one next year.
For those of you growing your own bushes, what varieties do you grow, and how tall are they?

[Granite26]

I grow many varieties. One of my problems is some winters I get heavy deer browse which cuts back the height of the bushes and the crop the following summer. Need to get a fence up one of these days.
Blueberries are beautiful plants and even can be worked in as landscaping around the house.
Here is a link with great info: http://www.fallcreeknursery.com/gard...thern_highbush

[ddsack]

Thanks, Granite! Great link ... I had no idea there were so many commercial varieties out there. I did try a couple of bushes some years ago, but they were in a marginal place, and sort of faded away -- I have deer too, so they likely were a factor. I may have a couple of beds opening up next year that are within the electric fence boundary, so might try them again.

[Longlake]

Originally Posted by ddsack

Thanks, Granite! Great link ... I had no idea there were so many commercial varieties out there. I did try a couple of bushes some years ago, but they were in a marginal place, and sort of faded away -- I have deer too, so they likely were a factor. I may have a couple of beds opening up next year that are within the electric fence boundary, so might try them again.

Electric fence will keep out the deer, but don't forget the rabbits...every winter they manage to get at my plants. That said, Chippewa, North Blue, Northland and Patriot keep coming back for me in Zone 3.

[ddsack]

Thanks for the variety names, those would likely do well for me here too. I'll check around and see about availability. Our rabbit population fluctuates a lot from year to year - mainly due to the foxes. This year I have not seen one rabbit, but we've had many fox sightings on our road. Also all the chipmunks are gone from our wood pile as well. I'm sure they'll bounce back when the fox move on to better hunting grounds. It seems like there are 3-5 year cycles around here.

[Granite26]

Be sure to try a couple of the taller northern highbush. Its really nice picking standing up! The link above gives mature height. The big berries (like Blueray) are very nice as well but sometimes the small ones, while being a pain to pick can be stellar, Friendship is one. Patriot is a very popular variety and Northland is productive. The above recommendations are pretty easily found in MN and WI. BlueGold has good flavor if you can find it.