Growing Berries in Arizona

I have learned this spring one simple lesson with berries in Arizona: if you want thriving plants, water thoroughly every day.

My strawberries and bababerries were beginning to struggle in the late-spring heat being watered only every other day. I am sad to say my blueberry has not survived, probably because I watered it only a couple times a week (as it was in an odd part of the yard).

As soon as I started the daily waterings, the strawberries and bababerries perked up, stopped browning at the edges, and started growing and fruiting again. The loganberry was doing well even bi-daily, but now it is growing even faster.

I keep the strawberry in a protected space, getting less than half a day of full sun. I tried a full-sun strawberry as an experiment, but, as I suspected, it died. The bababerries and loganberry are in full sun.

Bababerries ripening!

We shall see how these cute little hot weather raspberries taste! The first fruit ripening of the year, beating even the strawberries.

Shooting Bababerries

My bababerries are the first to shoot! Beating everything else, faster than the grapes, boysenberries, blackberry, or blueberry, or any of the fruit trees. Sweet.

Bababerries

I planted three of these things, purchased from Home Depot. Some info on 'em:

One of the largest raspberries, the Bababerry is red, sweet, firm, and has an excellent flavor. This berry is great for hot regions and mild winters. It bears large crops in early Summer and a small crop in the fall.

'Bababerry' needs some chilling in the winter and is a heat tolerant cultivar. Fruits are borne in late spring and fall. Raspberries are biennials that perform best in full sun with plenty of water and a good fertilizing when blooms begin. A slow warming spring, such as in the Pacific Northwest, is required for optimal flower and fruit production. Staking is also usually necessary. White flowers are borne from late April to June followed by the much anticipated red or sometimes yellow fruit which ripens in late summer. Birds also love the fruit, so you may have to share the harvest. Plants should be placed 3' apart in rows between 7-9' apart. Fruit is produced on one year old wood. For best results, cut down all fruited canes to ground level at the end of the season. The Rubus genus is also made up of flowering, ornamental shrubs, either evergreen or deciduous, some of which are native species.

Any of many species of fruit-bearing bushes of the genus Rubus in the rose family. When picked, the juicy red, purple, or black berry separates from a core, whereas in the related blackberry the core is part of the fruit. Both so-called berries are actually aggregate fruits. Red raspberries are propagated by suckers (see suckering) from the roots of the parent plant or from root cuttings. Black and purple varieties have arched canes and are propagated by layering of the shoot tips. Raspberries contain iron and vitamin C. They are eaten fresh and are also very popular in jams, as a pastry filling, and as a flavouring for liqueurs.