Who knew there was a "blackberry winter"

I had never heard the expression "blackberry winter" before, but I heard reference to it twice in a 24-hour period last week.

I thought it was an interesting expression, so I asked what it meant. It seems to relate to the colder-than-normal weather we experienced last week. I wanted to know more about this blackberry winter thing so I got on the Internet to do a little research.

I went to the website Dave's Garden -- www.davesgarden.com -- and found this about this wintry situation. Dave's Garden, by the way, says it's an informational website where a large, international community of gardeners can learn from each other and find resources offered by the gardening industry.

"Oldtimers also knew that blackberries (Rubus fruticosus) need a cold snap to set buds on the blackberry canes, so as sure as night follows day, there will be a cold snap when the blackberries bloom, called Blackberry Winter," the article said. "It comes with a somewhat less severe return of a continental polar air mass after the maritime tropical air masses have begun to dominate the weather. In some areas, a late cold snap occurs with the blooming of the locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia) usually before the dogwoods bloom or the redbuds (Cercis canadensis). So you have Locust Winter, and Redbud Winter happening after the first flush of warm spring days and before Dogwood Winter and Blackberry Winter."

So now all I have to do is figure out which of the several cold snaps that we've had over the past month or so was really "blackberry winter."

I have two blackberry bushes in my backyard that I planted two years ago. Last year we got a reasonable crop from the bushes. Not enough to make jam, jelly or pie, but enough to eat with cereal or put on the evening's scoops of ice cream.

This year, however, the bushes were just loaded with blossoms that still continued to bloom through last week's cold spell. Because the blooms have been going for a couple of weeks, blackberries have already begun to set on the bushes. In some cases they are a half an inch long.

We might be able to make some blackberry cobbler or maybe a pie this year.

So if last week's cold snap helps set the remaining buds, we'll be set around our house for some good eating.

Just as an aside, I also planted a couple of strawberry plants in the flower bed. Last year they didn't do much and I really haven't been paying much attention to them this year.

The weekend before last, the wife and I decided to try to beat out an impending rain storm and go to Eureka Springs for the day. The Weather Channel said it would start raining about 4 p.m. so we could get a good walk around Eureka in before driving home in the rain. For the record, the rain started at 2:30 and it was practically a dry drive home once we left Eureka.

As we were passing through Garfield, I saw the fruit stand there was selling strawberries. So we stopped and bought a real nice quart basket of strawberries to take home for cereal. It cost us $4, but they were homegrown. During blueberry season, they have good blueberries as well.

We ate some on the way home, remarked how good they were and reminded ourselves to check our plants.

I guess I should have checked them before we left home and saved $4. We had more strawberries on those bushes than what I paid for at the fruit stand. Live and learn, I guess.

One of the things we've been spoiled by in northwest Arkansas is the variety of fresh fruit that is available. We'd come down from Kansas to the daughter and her family and stop at the fruit stands to purchase blueberries. We were known to get six to eight gallons of blueberries and freeze them.

Once we moved here five years ago, we found that there seemed to be more fresh fruit available. You could get fresh peaches from June to September, so you didn't need as many blueberries. Now we get a couple of gallons to freeze and keep some in the refrigerator to eat throughout the summer.

I'm hoping with all the rain and now if we can get some heat, that we'll have a good blueberry crop. Guess we'll know in the next couple of weeks.

* * *

Throne is managing editor of The Weekly Vista.