We have begun to reap quite a bounty of berries.  The previous owners of our property had a sizable berry establishment going.  There are a couple of massive blackberry bushes growing in one spot and then a tunnel of blackberry bushes; an entire forest of black raspberry bushes; and maybe three or four blueberry bushes. I also planted four strawberry plants but you may recall I had an issue with bunnies eating them.

As someone who is brand new to growing food, I am still learning how much effort and time is needed.  With regard to the berry bushes (and they are pretty hands off), should I be checking on them every day, every other day or is twice a week sufficient?  I am a schedule person and like knowing what I need to do each day. I’m sure it is my life’s lesson to realize that it’s not about checking things off, it’s about enjoying the process, but we can save that philosophizing for another day.

I’m also asking because I had a disappointing experience with the blueberries just a few days ago and wondering whether it could have been prevented had I been more vigilant.   I was watching them for about two weeks. The berries started small and green, then turned to grayish purple, then a light blue, and then a nice rich dark blue. On Friday evening, I could see that they were all getting very close to perfection and I wanted to wait one more day so they could be as juicy and plump as possible.  And then, for whatever reason, I didn’t do the picking on Saturday like I should have and when I went out Sunday morning, they were ALL GONE!  

I know the deer ate them, those punks!  We have an electric fence around the garden but I haven’t turned it on.  Up to this point it didn’t appear that the deer had been noshing on our fruit bushes.  But they must have been watching me watch the blueberries and picked the most opportune time to make their move.  Grrrrrr! 

So to my question about frequency.  Could I have prevented this by checking the berries on Saturday?  Maybe. To be on top of things, I should probably be checking on the things that are getting close to ripe every day during harvest season but I just know that isn’t going to be entirely realistic.  But the berries are worth it.

One morning I went out and collected about 6 cups of blackberries in about 10 minutes. 

I have been reading up on canning from various other bloggers (Preparedness Mama and The Organic Prepper), and on this National Center for Home Food Preservation.  I’ll share how I made two cans of blackberry jam in about 45 minutes soon.