Anyone else picking wild berries right now?
Or do you cultivate your berries in a patch at home, maybe?
I went out for the first time tonight just for wild blackberries, and the yield on bushes seems wonderful this year! Picked a ton and didn't even make a dent in what is there just along our driveway and around our house.
Anyone else enjoying this free crop from Mother Nature, and wonderful Zen activity? Or do you have berries in your garden, maybe different varieties? How is your yield looking this season?
Rebecka I have been picking blackberries for over a month now. I really shouldn't be eating them but they're great to pick right before breakfast and put them right on your cereal.
I've had a bush growing on the side of the house for several years. A second one just popped up out of no where in the back this year. This years yield is good, but not as good as last year. They are definitely at peak now starting to fade a bit.
GC I eat my way as I mow. All the blackberries are volunteers. It's fun to stop once and a while and enjoy some berries. (and I don't even have to get off the tractor)
Ms Fishy @GC, ah yes, I always forget that I'm at a bit higher of an elevation, and everything is a few weeks behind here.
Ms Fishy - too funny. I'm getting a good visual!
The animals got all my mulberries lol. And we have 2 trees in our yard...but I was at my parents' house in the 'burg yesterday and my niece and I were having a snack from their
trees.
weebiekins Of the three Blueberry bushes I planted last year, one has berries about 1/2" across and a few ripen each day. The one with the smaller berries has more fruit, but haven't ripened yet. One has no fruit yet at all. Of the three grape vines, one has A bunch on it, one has nothing and another has many bunches which seem to be different than the way the bunches were last year. I planted two more vines after the frost was over, but it takes about three years, just to start seeing bunches after planting.
Phil D. I helped pick some at Antler Ridge --- there are several kinds - and another volunteer makes jars and jars of "Teddy Jam" named for our porcupine. They are delicious but we're picking for the jam maker.............
5catmom 
just the facts maam Actually, Rebecca those are black raspberries, not blackberries...much different in taste, texture, and shape. Lucky you to have THAT much on your property! Enjoy! The boysenberry bushes are loaded also, can't wait for them to ripen.
Davis Lots of Mulberries at the "Field of Dreams". Some near Cemetery Rd by the firehouse, and more between the middle field and the large field. They are very watery.
Davis - really?! How can you tell? All this time I was just calling them blackberries...
Caged Animal Rebecca, the easiest way to tell is that a raspberry has a hollow center. This makes them much more fragile than blackberries. Blackberries tend to be more elongated and shiny. If you shop @Sams, they sell blackberries and (red) raspberries... Much easier to see the difference then. And the taste...you are so fortunate!
just the facts maam, the mulberries don't have as much flavor as blackberries or raspberries. They seem to be more "wet" and less flavor. Not my favorite, but lots of folks really enjoy them.
I love to pick black raspberries to make jelly. We've had a couple of bad cases of poison ivy over the years because of this! I like to warm them and press them through cheesecloth to strain out the juice to make the jelly seedless, it takes a lot of berries to make a batch. And of course we keep eating them as we go!
You are so lucky to have so many Rebecka!
hktownie I'll take the drive. My Grandfather used to have mulberry bushes years and years ago when I was very young out in Reading
We would fill up a bowl and Grandmom would sprinkle some sugar on with some farmers milk. That was comfort food! I have mulberrys in my neighborhood but the little kids get them. Thanks for the "tip". I'll check 'em out...
Wow I'm learning a lot about different berries here. Good info. Just realized we have a tree which might be a Mulberry tree out by our barn... and I've never picked the berries!
I think that theyre verrrry sour. But maybe im thinking of those green gooseberries ;)
mulberries are yummy - there were trees by my classroom and we used to pick and enjoy them - me and my 5 year olds
OK, now I need help...the berries along the road with the crimson "fuzz" on them...I have always referred to them as boysenberries...but apparently they're not because after googling it I see the fruit of a boysen looks more like a blackberry! All I know is they are delicious, and they resemble bright red raspberries. (the fuzz opens to reveal the ripe berry). I did not see any that resembled them on google images.
A good dayWineberries/ wine raspberries, Davis?
http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_010303.pdf
we got great blueberries this year, can hardly keep up with the picking them in time.
also, great year for rasberries, strawberries, and blackberries
this year has been good to us, we are 'berrieonaires'over here, big time!!
BrotherDog 
skippy Thanks, Rebecca...that's it! I had to google some more pics as I couldn't quite make them out from the link above...like you all these years I've been calling them boysenberries! And I never knew they were invasive either...
Yuck, berries. LOL
I can't stand berries because of the seeds. You all enjoy though. :-)
Calico696 @Calico - yeah, that's the trouble with spending hours picking berries. You come home with seeds all in your teeth. And a bellyache.
I never knew they were invasive either, Davis, until I googled and found that link. And I was calling them raspberries, never knowing they were wineberries. Glad I started this thread... it's berry educational. (Sorry I know... groan.)
I've got four patches of wineberries on my property....can't wait for them to open up and ripen. They are my favorite berry!
eperot 
Dansker does anyone grow their own lingonberries? how do they fare around here?
same question about cranberries? a bog is not required, you can pick them by hand, correct? how to they do in these parts?
Thought this was interesting.
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/07/pennsylvania_has_one_of_the_ol.html#incart_most-comments
Blackberries are my favorite, but when I hike in the woods I won't pick them. I save them for the bears. Strange I know. Lol.
positive Positive I do the same with wild blueberries up on the Kittatiny ridge. Lots of bears there. Salmon berries are ripening in Hardwick!
BD - I've never tried to grow either but I do know that cranberries grow very well in the Pine Barrens of both NJ and Long Island. I believe part of the confusion of growing in bogs is their terminology isn't necessarily referring to something so swampy like you usually think of. But the sand piles for cranberries are still termed a bog by growers. That is supposed to be the key for cranberries - sand. A place like Godlewsky's black muck in Great Meadows/Allamuchy is a more typical bog but wouldn't be so good because of the lack of sand. But it would be a good experiment to take a small patch, fill with sand, and see if the rich soil together with a sand top would grow cranberries. Picking only by hand would probably be net to not worth it. But I suspect you could get or make a scoop specifically for dry harvesting that would work. But otherwise, without having a sand patch I doubt cranberries would work at all.
While I've had lingonberries more than once including two weeks ago, I don't know as much about growing them. I did read where they tried them in Oregon and it didn't work at all. I believe the issue is the cold climate that makes them grow very well in Nordic countries. Oregon has a wet enough climate but is too warm suggesting they were more suited to Maine, New Brunswick or Newfoundland. I doubt they would work here.
Personally you are best off growing blueberries. That article about PA shows it.
Re salmon berries...do we even have them on the east coast? Everything I read about them says they are native to the Pacific Northwest.
I will post a photo if salmonberries. Maybe they have a different name here. I heard wine berries from someone on Sunday.
Are the wild "blueberries" on the Kittatiny Ridge also known as huckleberries? I used to pick lots of them along the way to Sunfish Pond. Delicious!
clpallamuchy Picked some blackberries yesterday while bike riding in Loantaka Park in Morristown last night. Growing right along the bike path.
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