Summer Hours Start June 1

   Our summer hours start tomorrow.  From June 1 to Aug. 31 (as shown in the sidebar at left), we're open our summer hours: open 7:30 a.m.-12 noon & 7-9 p.m. Mon.-Sat., and Sundays 7-9 p.m. only.  We're closed noon to 7 p.m. every day due to high summer heat, and closed Sunday morning for church.

Our summer hours start tomorrow, June 1, and go until Aug. 31.

   Red raspberries are just starting to ripen, and a good amount should be ripening by June 4, so we'll open the red raspberry row for pick-your-own harvest that day.  Red raspberries will start yielding heavily by about June 12.  Thornless blackberries will start ripening about June 20, and should get into heavy production by about June 28. 
   It takes about 1 month from bloom to harvest for raspberries, and about 6 weeks from bloom to harvest for blackberries.  The sidebar at left shows the expected ripe dates for all types of raspberries and thornless blackberries.

Red raspberries are just starting to ripen. Pick-your-own harvest will start June 4, and plants should yield heavily by June 12. berries will start yielding heavily by about June 12.

   You do not need an appointment from June 1 to Aug. 31, just come during our open hours.  However, if planning to come during the first few days of each crop's ripening, it's a good idea to call a day ahead and check how the berries are ripening.  Please arrive at a time that allows you to finish picking by our closing time.  Thanks.
   All types of raspberries cost $2.32 per pint + sales tax, pick-your-own, and are sold pick-your-own only.  Thornless blackberries, once they start ripening, will cost $2.78 per quart + sales tax, pick-your-own, and are sold pick-your-own only.
   We provide containers for picking berries.  We appreciate it if you return these containers to us for reuse, on your next trip to Brenda's Berries & Orchards.  Please also bring back any peach boxes of ours that you may still have, so we can reuse them, hopefully next year.  Thanks.
   Our workers and I are busy doing summer pruning of raspberry and thornless blackberry plants, getting the plants ready for customer harvest.  We've also been thinning excess young apple fruits, so the trees aren't overloaded with too many fruit that would stay small.

This 'Sun Gala' apple tree, a selection from my apple breeding program, set way too many fruit.

   We remove all but one fruit per cluster, so remaining fruit do not touch as harvest approaches next fall.  Pest insects and fruit-rotting fungi spread easily from fruit to fruit that touch, so we greatly reduce insect damage and fruit rots by thinning the excess young apple fruits.

The same apple branches after fruit thinning now have a good crop load, of fruit that won't touch as harvest approaches next fall.

   We still have many 'Enterprise' and 'GoldRush' apples and cracked pecans, harvested last Nov. and kept in top condition in our coolers, for sale now and for the next month or two. We still have lots of fresh harvested asparagus for sale now and for the next 10 to 14 days, until early to mid-June.  Prices are detailed in the previous blog post, dated May 25 (scroll down).