Ridge Berry Farm: The Pineberry

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The past few weeks have not been very productive at the farm. Most of our work has been delayed by the incessant Spring rains.

Things however are progressing in our Growing Dome. Seedlings are sprouting and awaiting transplant to the raised beds. It's now all a matter of patience....waiting for that last frost (which in this region averages around May 25th).

Borage and Scarlet Runners are doing well in the greenhouse...they're our favorite edible flowers for the Tea Room

In our last post, we also mentioned that the dome would finally be put to more productive endeavours. Well, we can finally announce that it has become the new home of Southshore Saskatoons. For those not familiar with the Saskatoon berry we urge you to do a search on this blog. We've covered it a few times since we discovered two rows of this native berry bush on the farm. We also planted some additional saplings last Fall.

In the dome, Southshore is attempting to propagate the plant from seeds. We have a total of 450,000 seeds now waiting to sprout. Some of them have already taken.

Saskatoon seedlings...a very small percentage of what is coming

The Saskatoon nursery has now convinced us that these may be our baseline crop. It will take a few years but Southshore and the team at the farm are looking forward to bringing this delicacy to the region.

Another oddity in the dome this year is the Pineberry. Many of our readers know how we love to experiment and this is our latest.

Nursing Pineberries...we may actually have a couple of fruits this year.

The Pineberry is a rather new "offering". It was developed in the Netherlands in 2010.

When the family left Switzerland some 5 years ago, they were becoming a hit in Germany. The berry is actually a Strawberry cultivar which cannot be readily reproduced from seeds, so it has taken us quite a while to come across some plants.

The reason we are keen to try them is the fact that they are quite attractive and tasty (resembling pineapple). The berries are smaller than conventional strawberries and are white with red "seeds" and a yellow flesh.

When we saw these, we had to give them a shot.

If these work out, we think they might be a great decorative addition to the Tea Room menu.

Although, it normally takes 2 years to begin producing, the plants in the dome would suggest we may actually be lucky and get a couple of berries this year.

Finally, everything is evolving on the land (as it should). The Asparagus are out in full force and many plants are in flower.