Quick way to amend poor soil

Welcome to the forums hwrwdw, and thanks for the tip!

 

Now, that is what I'd call going the whole 9 yards. The extent of your efforts will surely be rewarded. In fact, I am very impressed by the thoroughness of your actions.
I have a half acre of thornless blackberries that I stop mowing between the rows after the last variety has been harvested. This gives months of wildflowers for the bees and a good bit of mulch when I mow after first frost.
Keep it up , guy. You are on the best path I hace seen in a while.
Best regards,
Rick~LtlWilli :idea:

 

If you are looking to start a good blackberry patch, Pense Nursery, up in Arkansas has the best prices I have ever seen, and they carry all of the improved strains of thornless berries. All of them are upright, and the only reason you need to run support wires is due to their ability to put out 1500 lbs. per acre...They are bigger , sweeter, more disease resitant, and have smaller seeds than Brazos...I had upright canes 8 feet tall before I topped them....I have 3 of the varieties, and like the Apache and Ouachita the best.
Yes, I will be selling next spring. $4 a gallon out here in the country, but at the Farmer's Market in Dallas, they go for $2.50 a pint. Nobody in the city seems to put up preserves, so they buy only what they'll eat. Since you are a beekeeper and a fellow Texan, you can just come on down and pick and dig all you want---on me.There's no way what you take will put even a dent in what these super berries will do.

 

You are more than welcome to any and all I can do for you. The Lord has blessed me with an abundance of bounty from the soil, and I do not use pesticides on His plants. For every predator, He has placed a natural enemy as my defence...I also have tame muscadines from Georgia that have a higher sugar content than grapes---25% compared to 19%.
You might time your visit to coincide with First Monday Trade Days, and get your wants all on the same day. I have Arapaho blackberries that ripen two weeks before any other berry. You can dig sprouts from any of the three breeds I carry.
Well, it's a lovely day, and I beleive that I'll get out and enjoy it.
Best regards,
Rick~LtlWilli

 

Hey, another Texan who thinks like you two! Almost neighbors as Texas goes too!
I just put in a couple acres of bluberries. I have been thinking about perhaps blackberries too but I do not know anyone who has done it around here and was wondering if it would be a good thing. The blueberries have had a tough time getting started for me. Rick, I would love to see how you have started. I am in Canton all the time for work even though I live close to Shrevport. The thornless VS Thorny issue really perplexes me. I need to know someone like you.

Howard, you are so right on every point. One of the things that amazes me is the fact that most people have forgotten how to garden! It is becoming a lost art in a way. It stuns me that just one or two generations ago EVERYBODY grew a large share of the family food. It seems so...natural that people would grow their own food, at least some of it. I am 45 years old, my Mom tells me that when she was a girl, my Grandfather, every night after work, tended his garden, as did ALL the men in the town. It is a bit rare that I meet a guy even my age who gardens.
Yes, it is a win some lose some situation but that is what makes it interesting. This has been the worst year ever in my whole life as far as food production, my bees have failed, deer have ravaged my garden, to much rain, to little rain, dogs have killed my chickens...you name it. Does it stop me? Never. I keep at it. Why? Because it makes me feel like I contribute. I produce. I could, if something awfull happened in the world, might be able to feed a small town, ha ha.
I also love the fact that no matter how much I think I know, it is never enough. I have a degree in horticulture but this spring, I marched over to my 80 year old neighbor and asked him how to grow sweet potatos! Of course he knew how, I did as he told me, and sure enough, I have dug some (well, the ones that the deer did not keep mowed down all summer).
In addition to growing, preserving is getting so darn rare. I had to teach myself how to can because I could not find anyone that knew how! That is something that also was common and well known just a few decades ago. What a great skill. Even with my rotten growing season this year, I STILL have rows and rows of jars that put up this year. To bad my wife can't get to interested in it...she trys though, lol.

Each year your efforts will pay off bigger and bigger...you will see! You are right, we should never ASSUME a cheap and constant food supply. I feel that we, as Americans, might be a bit spoiled these days in regards to food. We just take it for granted that we walk into Walmart and it will be there...and cheap. Kinda' like we felt about gas a few years ago, right? You and your wife are on the right path.

 

Just as the University of Minnesota has excelled by developing the Minnesota Hygenic bees, the University of Arkansas has taken the science of blackberries a few notches up the ladder from where we were 10 years ago. The thornless blackberry has been around a while, but was seldom grown because of it's demand for trellising. These thornless berries can be done well witha single taut wire about 4 ft. off the ground. They are upright, with some stems as thick as your thumb, but their canes get to be 8 ft at least. They are bigger than Brazos berries, more productive, more disease resistant, and sweeter. The good thing is that by choosing 3 varieties, I have extended the picking time. Arapaho is 2 weeks earlier than any other blackberry grown....In short, I am very happy with them, having spent my younger years getting berry thorns out of my arms and hands.
I agree about people getting at least a small garden for hard times, and a concentration of plants in a relatively small area is a do-able project ,requiring a surprisingly small amount of effort. Besides, I feel close to the land when there is dirt under my fingernails. Kinda' "earthy" I guess you could say.

 

I was wondering if the thornless varieties are as "good" as the thorny ones. I had considered putting them in but I kept hearing that they were not as flavorfull as the thorny ones. Like you, I am not crazy about plucking all those little thorns out of my hands/arms.
You have made me reconsider...
If you had 400 ft. rows such as I do, how many rows would you want to put in to make it worthwhile as a PYO situation? WHat spacing do you have them at along your rows?
I talked to Gene Harris over at Harris Nursery in Tyler, he also suggested I might want to get into Black berries. I am about to go pick up a few hundred 1 gal blueberries to fill gaps in my rows. Maybe I should try the blackberries. I sure hope they are easier to get established than Blueberries!
Is Arapaho the one I want first?
Sorry, dont mean to wear you out with all my questions Rick.

 

LOL....You cannot wear me out, Tim, because I run on inner fuel from God. I am easy going and humble always.
I gave up on blueberries here due to the fact that I could not irrigate them. Without that, they are just waiting for you to miss a watering, so they can die. Most plants will forgive you for letting them go dry a day or two. Blueberries will not at all.
Although Arapaho is first off by about two weeks, I would have to say Apache is my favorite. Ouachita is a very close second... I plant on 3' spacings, with rows 9' apart. With long rows like you can do there, 6 would be good the first year, but after that, demand and good memories of the first year will probably spur you onto even more....People WILL return to your patch--the berries are that good---I promise you.
Do not give throwing questions at me a second thought. I am always ready to both teach and learn.

 

You are SO(!) right about water and blueberries... I learned that the hard (expensive) way. That is exactly what I am doing, replacing all the ones I managed to kill out the first year with my poor water delivery system (me). I have that situation a bit better controled now (kind of).
O.K.- you have sold me, I am going to do it. I will, with each paycheck, place an order and plant all winter untill I run out of room or money. For starters, I am going to cannabalize a couple rows of blueberries that are spotty and move them into other rows.
This is going to be good, I am glad I ran into you to spur me on. I was feeling a bit grim about everything this year....

 

Yes, you can always count on my help. Something about having dirt under my fingernails is satisfying, and makes me feel one with the land. Some folks' lives are hectic and altogether too busy in their attempt at enjoyment and happiness...It's sad and really a waste of good intentions to run here, buy that, try this here---they just burn themselves out in what could be such a simple endeavor...So sad. So very sad. :cry:

 

Hey!!!.....that stevia you are growing has piqued my interest a great deal. It sounds like a stupendous plant to have around. I'll look it up in one of my seed catalogs.
Saving seeds from the best plants of a crop is how we did it back in the 1950's. Daddy would show us which plants not to pick from, and we seldom bought seeds. We cooperated with other farmers in the area to get new varieties to try...People need to wise up and stock uo, that's a sure thing....Your stance on this is right on the money, man. You're on the right track, it's for sure. :idea:

 

You got my interest up in stevia, so I googled it. The seeds are selling from 25 to 33 cents EACH. On ebay I found this, two thousand seeds for 6.33 including freight. It say directions for growing and using it come with the order.

http://cgi.ebay.com/STEVIA-Rebaudiana-0 ... 638Q2em122

For 6 dollars, I decided to try it. You may want to, or you may want to wait a week or so and I will let you know if it's for real, or a scam. The seller has a 100% positive rating on ebay.

 

Gee whiz, Howard!!...That is good of you. I'll get an envelope into the mail to you. I'll start poking around here for something that will interest you before I send my letter. This is how people ought to be doing seeds---SHARING-------spreading the wealth around.
I gotta go now...my wife is home from work.
Take care, good friend.
Rick

 

Thanks for the offer. If this overseas deal turns out to be a scam, I'll be contacting you.