Creating a Berry Patch

Berries to me are the ultimate fruit.  Raspberries, Blueberries, Blackberries, Mulberries oh the list could just go on and on. 
Sadly though unless you pick them yourself or get them super fresh they loose that special something that a just picked berry has. 

Berries for me evoke strong memories of childhood.  My cousins and I also used to spend Autumn days wandering the country roadsides picking Blackberries for our mums to make jam and ending the days with stained mouths and fingers.  To this day my favourite jam is Blackberry Jelly mmmmmm.Over the years my parents grew Strawberries, Black and Red Currents, Gooseberries (a bit tart for my liking back then) and Blueberries.  
Blueberries were something that we grew commercially as pick your own and ready picked.  So Winter was pruning season and every Summer I used to earn money picking, sorting and eating packing Blueberries.  These days when I see people buying Blueberries on sale at the supermarket for $4.99 for 250 gms it makes me sad that they are not getting to enjoy them at their best, room temperature and straight from the bush.

For a while now I have been planning a berry patch and even though we live in Queensland where it gets quite hot I am determined to give it a go despite the fact it might fail. 
So before heading off to NZ we sprayed off 3 areas where our Berries were to go giving the spray a month to kill of the grass and dissipate .  I am not a huge fan of spraying but when trying to kill off Kikuyu grass smothering it  is not an option so for a quick result I went with it.
I already have a patch of thornless Blackberries (Waldo) that were originally just 2 plants but have now multiplied and created new plants where branches have touched the ground.  These were not really planted in an ideal spot so they are getting moved, to join the other berries, where we have also made a bit more of an effort before planting to make sure we can control them.


The unloved Blackberry's

Then before Christmas I ordered 3 Raspberries (Autumn Bliss) and 3 Blueberries (Northland) and these will form our berry patch. So with the help and muscle of Hubby we (well mostly Hubby) preparing the 3 beds for planting.

Preparing the Beds

This closest bed was for the Raspberries and was getting a
root barrier so we were making the sides very straight.
Note the mega mulch pile in the background, very handy having
an Arborist for a Hubby.



Number one helper trying to get in on the action.



We framed the Raspberry bed with roofing Iron and now just need
to put some piping around the top edge to make it safe.



Raspberries in and mulched



Blueberries in and mulched.  Root barrier not requited,
puppy barrier maybe....

We are yet to transplant the Blackberries, a job for this weekend probably, but once done I will be very pleased.  In reality that was probably the easy bit done (although it didn't feel easy at the time) now it's just a matter of waiting for fruit, and in my mind that will be the hard bit.