Friday, July 23, 2010

So . . . Does Size Matter?

My good blogger friend, Erin, at Garden Now - Think Later, did a post today about her and her two boys going blueberry picking at a pick-your-own farm.

One of the pictures she included was of her reaching up as high as she could and not being able to touch the top of one of the blueberry bushes.

So I thought I'd post this picture of me standing behind one of our blueberry bushes. Are ya sure we're both talkin' about blueberry bushes??

In years before our bushes started bearing, we've gone about a hundred miles south of us to a farmstead that raises blueberries for sale. Those bushes were about waist high but nothing like those "trees" Erin and the boys picked from.

In all fairness to our itty-bitty, under-sized, runt bushes, they are a cross between cultivated blueberries adapted to the North Country and wild blueberry bushes so I guess I can't expect them to have much size on them. Maybe by staying close to the ground, they're able to stay warmer in the winter. (Well, that's one theory anyway.)

P.S. Why do my fat knees look as if they have little faces on them?

10 comments:

The Apple Pie Gal said...

Oh my gosh, you cracked me up! I would say in this instance, yes-size does matter! And you opened yourself up for this one...your knees look funny because you forgot to wear nylons! DUH!

Erin said...

Nylons in the garden... I'm laughing now! Apple Pie Gal, she had to take them off and tie them onto a trellis to support those canoe-zucchinis! Oh, boy... here we go!

In all seriousness, I didn't want to say so on my "southern blog" heehee, but northern lowbush blueberries are superb compared to these highbush we have, in MY opinion! These are too sugary sweet and lack that "berry" taste. I try to explain to people here how low blueberries can be (i.e. the ones found wild while out canoeing or hiking, a couple of inches high!) and they look at my like I'm nuts and say they must not be blueberries! At least hubby believes me, he used to live in Alaska so he knows about stubby wild blueberries. I will say the one nice thing about these is NO BENDING OVER to harvest!
p.s. I think my elbows received faces for their 40th birthday LOL

Mama Pea said...

Apple Pie Gal - Omigosh! Seriously. Can you just IMAGINE wearing panty hose while working in the garden in this heat and humidity?? I would be de-ad! Dead. DEAD.

Erin - Talking about size . . . bigger is not always better! We've got 4-5 varieties of blueberry bushes and the ones with the smallest berries are the most flavorful. So there.

P.S. Better elbows than knees. You rarely see your elbows when they're making faces!

beth said...

I'm wondering if the size of the bush matters. My husband just planted a blueberry bush in a pot here in southern calif. We've been able to harvest ONE blueberry so far. ;)

Mama Pea said...

Beth - Blueberry bushes take 3-5 years to start bearing. Ours took longer than that but we've always wondered if we "hurt" them initially. We did a no-no and got them before we had the ground prepared for them. So we planted them in pots (each bush in its own pot) and left them there for a year before finally getting them in the ground. Ours are about 10 years old now and have been the slowest growing things imaginable. It wasn't until about three years ago that we started getting any quantity of berries off of them at all. So you can see I'm no authority on blueberry bushes at all!

MrsMama said...

Your garden is Gorgeous! I especially love all of your berry bushes.

At least the faces on your knees look friendly. :)

Judy D in WA said...

I think your knees look cute. ;) Our bb bushes are quite young and this year are giving us 3 or 4 berries a day. Not even enough for a snack. Next year.....but I want to move them in the fall. Do you think that will hurt next years production?

Mama Pea said...

Judy - Moving the bushes will undoubtedly set them back a little. But if you're moving them to a more favorable spot for them, I'd say go for it. Just be sure when you move them this fall, give them enough water. I've made the mistake in thinking plants in the fall don't need much moisture because it's cooler, but if they go into winter dry, they stand much more chance of winter kill.

Also, dig as big a ball of dirt with the bushes as you can when moving them. Less chance of root pruning them then.

Jody M said...

Our blueberry bush is about 7 feet tall and I *think* is a 'birdseye' blueberry.

Mama Pea said...

Jody - Well, we for SURE don't have any Birdseye blueberry bushes! :o)