Dallas Fruit and Vegetable Grower

Blackberries, raspberries and blueberries

Our berries are coming into production.  As you can see from the photograph above, our blueberries are ripening now.  We have Tifblue,  Woodard, and Brightwell growing.  These bushes were planted three years ago from 5 gallon containers.  They are still very small bushes but should eventually grow to 6 to 8 feet in height.  I cannot wait for that day because they have been growing very slowly.  Nevertheless, each year we get more blueberries than in the past.   Our harvest has been better this year despite the recent hailstorms and the efforts of the Mockingbirds.

We have had fresh raspberries for the last two weeks.  These bushes were planted from 1 gallon containers and are still verry small in large part because I transplanted them this Spring to our alley.  We have Autumn Bliss and Heritage which are reputed to be self-supporting.  I put them in the alley because they cannot grow near our blackberries and can cause disease in each other.  Because the blackberries take up so much of our beds in the front, the alley was the only place left for the raspberries.  We have about fifteen or so bushes growing behind our side fence in the alley.  They get part sun, and I have a drip line providing them with water.  Remarkably, the birds and squirrels have not really been going after the raspberries as much as the blueberries.

Our blackberries have been ripening for some time, and are just now starting to turn black.  However, even though they are turning black, they are still not ready for harvest.  You want the black ones to turn from shiny to dull black.  Not an easy standard, so I often rely on the taste test for harvesting purposes.  We have approximately 50 Arapaho, Navajo, and Ouachita thornless blackberries that should provide a substantial harvest this year.  The photograph above shows two of the bushes with immature, red berries.

 

 

Ripening Fruit Update

 

Our pome and stone fruit continue to get bigger.  In the first week of May, you can see in the photograph above that our apples are already looking fairly mature.

The photograph above is of our asian pears that are also doing well.

 

Our three types of thornless blackberries -- Navajo, Arapaho, and Oauchita -- are loaded with immature berries.  In the photograph above, you can see how the flowers turn into the berries.

The fruit on our blueberry bushes also continues to mature.  I hope plenty ripen before the birds get them all.

 

Finally, I have included a photo of some medlar blossoms that have been pollinated and are fruiting.

Bloom Report for March 27th

Things have been blooming like crazy during the last two weeks.   The photograph above is of a few of our blueberry blooms.  We have about sixty very immature blueberry bushes that are loaded with blooms.  It has been a very dry spring, so I have made sure that they are getting enough moisture through the driplines.  Assuming the birds don't get to them first, I am hoping that we get a good crop of blueberries this year. 

I planted three Goumi bushes this winter, and they also started to bloom last week.  I planted 2 Sweet Scarlet and 1 Red Gem from One Green World.  All three are blooming.  They have such small, unusual blossoms.

We have a lot of everbearing and june bearing strawberries in our front flowerbeds.  As I previously posted, the Eversweet were the first to bloom and form little green berries.  All of the other everbearing varieties seem to have started blooming this week as well: Seascape, Ozark Beauty, Quinault, Tristar, Ogallala.  Last year, we planted some june bearers, and they also are blooming:  Lateglow, Jewel, and Allstar.  This spring, we also plan on planting some Earliglow june bearers.

However, the first strawberry plants to start blooming for us were the musk strawberries - the Profumata di Tortona.  The photograph below is of a musk strawberry plant.

Our honeyberries also started blooming a few weeks ago.  We have several types of honeyberry - Kamchatka, Blue Velvet, and Blue Pacific - but I cannot tell one from the other.   These plants are two years old, but they have been slow growers for us.

We also have several hardy and fuzzy kiwi plants of several different varieties.  These plants have been in the ground for three years and have not produced blooms or fruit yet.  Kiwi have a reputation for taking approximately 7 years before they come into production.  The plants that I purchased looked like they might be 2 to 3 years old, so I am hoping that this may be my lucky year.  The female plants require a male polinator, and I think our male fuzzy kiwi is about to produce some blooms.  The following photographs are (1) of what I think is the male bloom bud on a fuzzy kiwi; (2) a bud on a hardy kiwi; and (3) of two fuzzy kiwi plants.

 

Finally, our grape vines have leafed out and are starting to form their little flower buds.  It is fascinating to think that these unusual looking flowers can actually turn into a cluster of grapes.

 

Growing blueberries in Dallas

The blueberries started to ripen in June and are continuing on into July.

While blueberries will require more bed preparation in Dallas, you should definitely give them a try.

My blueberry bushes have been very successful and produced berries in their first year. Now that they are in their second year, they have set a fair amount of fruit.  As the bushes get bigger and more mature, I'm hoping for more in the coming years.  I must say that the mockingbirds are tough competition for the blueberries.  I keep looking out the front window to see mockingbirds hanging upside from the bushes trying to get at the berries.

In Dallas, plant blueberries like you would an azalea bush.  Blueberries like acidic soil, so create a raised bed using azalea planting mix or other type of acidic planting mix (Dallas has alkaline/clay soil, by and large).  Blueberries also like a fair amount of water - especially that first year. To help conserve water, put a heavy layer of mulch on top of the azalea mix to retain the moisture. Make sure you don't let the soil dry out that first year. I installed drip lines under the mulch in the flower beds where I planted the azaleas to conserve water.  You can keep the soil acidity up by occasionally topping off the beds with acidified mulch from Soil Building Systems or another mulch supplier. Alternatively, you can spread some sulfur to the beds in the winter to boost the acidity.

Remember that blueberries need a pollinator, so you should plant at least two varieties; however, I recommend three. When picking blueberry varieties, try to pick varieties that ripen at different times so you extend the picking season. For the south, many experts recommend southern rabbiteye varieties which do well in the heat. I planted Tifblue, Woodard, and Brightwell. These varieties are deciduous and can grow from 6 to 12 feet tall. A national nursery supplier called Monrovia sells smaller, evergreen varieties called Misty and Sunshine Blue.  They claim that these varieties will grow only to 3 to 5 feet. If you speak to your local nursery that you use, they might be able to special order some for you. Raintree Nursery (a mail order nursery) also sells these varieties, but they typically offer smaller, immature plants. I encourage you to plant as many plants as you can to ensure that you get a nice amount of berries at a time. Blueberries ripen over a period of time, and you want to be able to pick a fair amount of berries. Try to plant 6 bushes or more, if you can. The more the merrier. 

I purchased my blueberry bushes in 2009 from Bob Wells Nursery in Lindale, Texas: www.bobwellsnursery.com.  I purchased 3 gallon containers. 

If you want to plant some, Bob Wells Nursery may have some that you can plant in October.  Alternatively, wait for next spring.  This year in the spring, I noticed that North Haven Gardens, Lowe's, and Home Depot were carrying 3 gallon bushes.

Here are a few photos of how we planted our blueberries in our front yard.  As you can see, we made a raised bed, and the blueberry bushes are planted among several crepe myrtles.  In front of the blueberries are strawberries.  Our bushes are still pretty small around 2.5 feet tall and not filled out; however, they will eventually get to be approximately 6 feet tall.  Blueberries like full sun for best berry production.  In Texas, our summer sun is so powerful, I think these bushes are getting adequate sun for fruit production even though there is intermittent shade from the crepe myrtles.

List of fruits and varieties

Here is a list of the fruit that we have planted in 2009 and 2010:

Apple                            Gala

                                      Fuji

                                      Granny Smith              

                                      Braeburn      

                                      Anna            

                                      Cox's Orange Pippen  

                                      Goldrush      

                                      Spigold       

                                      Wynooche   

                                      William's Pride

                                     

Pears                             Orient          

                                      Moonglow    

                                      Monterrey    

                                      Warren         

                                      Magness      

                                      Kieffer         

                                      Pineapple    

                                      Seckle

                                     

Peaches                         Springold     

                                      Sentinel       

                                      Ranger         

                                      Red Haven   

                                      Jefferson     

                                      Saturn          

                                      Reliance       

                                     

Plums                            Santa Rosa  

                                      Bruce           

                                      Allred           

                                      Morris          

                                      AU Rosa      

                                      Shiro           

                                      Toka

                                     

Cherry                            Bing            

                                      Black Tartarian            

                                      Compact Stella

                                     

Apricot                           Blenheim      

                                      Moorpark

                                     

Asian Pear                     Hosui           

                                      Shinko

                                     

Jujube                            Li  

                                      Lang

                                     

Fig                                 Brown Turkey              

                                      Celestial       

                                      Texas Everbearing       

                                      LSU Purple  

                                      Black Mission        

    

Blueberry                       Tifblue         

                                      Woodard     

                                      Brightwell

                                     

Elderberry                      John's         

                                      Adam's

                                     

Blackberry                      Arapaho thornless       

                                      Ouachita thornless       

                                      Navajo thornless

                                     

Raspberry                      Autumn Bliss

                                      Heritage

                                     

Grape                             Himrod white seedless 

                                      Mars blue seedless     

                                      Saturn seedless          

                                      Ruby seedless            

                                      Chardonney

                                     

Strawberry                     Ozark Beauty              

                                      Quinault       

                                      Ogallala       

                                      Tristar          

                                      Eversweet    

                                      Seascape    

                                      Allstar          

                                      Itasca          

                                      Jewel           

                                      Lateglow      

                                      Earliglow      

                                      Profumata di tortona   

                                      Mignonette alpine        

                                      Rugen alpine

                                      Yellow alpine

                                     

Cornellian Cherry           Elegant        

                                      Pioneer

                                     

Che                                Seedless Che

                                     

Nanking Cherry              White Nanking Cherry

 

Medlar                            Dutch medlar              

                                      Royal medlar

                                     

Pomegranite                  Eversweet

                                     

Persimmon                    Fuyu            

                                      Tani Nashi

                                     

Paw paw                        Mango         

                                      Pennsylvania Golden   

                                      NC1

                                     

Kiwi                               Ananasnaja  

                                      Dumbarten Oaks         

                                      Jumbo Hardy              

                                      Ken's Red    

                                      Saanichton   

                                      Exbury         

                                      Hayward      

                                      Kolomitka

                                     

Pineapple Guava           Pineapple Guava

                                     

Luma Apiculata              Luma Apiculata

                                     

Honeyberry                    Kamchatka   

                                      Blue velvet   

                                      Blue pacific

                                     

Juneberry                       Northline serviceberry

                                     

Jostaberry                      Jostaberry

                                     

Gooseberry                    Poorman

                                     

Shipova                         Shipova

                                     

Hybrids                          Pluot combination of Splash, Emerald Drop, Flavor Grenade, and Geo Pride           

                                      Tri Lite peach plum      

                                      Cot-N-Candy Aprium    

                                      Flavor Supreme Pluot  

                                      Spice Zee Nectaplum

                                     

Wolfberry                       Wolfberry

                                     

Huckleberry                    Evergreen huckleberry

                                     

Mulberry                        2 existing Mulberry trees -- type unknown   

                                         Noir De Spain mulberry