WINTER WONDERLAND

[grapeman]

We lucked out here. We got Jobe's 6 inches of snow instead of the 12-16 inches. I hope we can get his 63 degrees too!

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Fresh layer of the white stuff here, kinda refreshing to look at the little plants sprout up in spite of it.

A few garden huckleberry's I started in an old aquarium a couple weeks back, I guess ya gotta bring the outdoors in sometimes!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Garden Huckleberries...I saw those seeds in a seed catalog.....


What are you going to do with them????
Is "make wine" the correct answer????
Have you grown them before????

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Grow...Probably....No

I was talking to forum member farmer at work one day about huckleberries , he showed me this site where you get this variety of free with a $20 order.
http://www.farmerseed.com/index.asp


That got me to looking into these, then I got some off ebay (of Course) to give them a try. Wine and Jelly im thinking. Don't know how they would compare to a true huck like I had years ago in Montana, probably nothing close, but the seed were cheap so worth a try maybe. One ebay seller of these claims 40 gal of wine from 60 plants planted, and didn't pick them all, so high yields I suppose, and thats good since I dont have a big yard or space to grow as much as I would like to...may have to go throw some seeds in one of farmers fields

 

[OilnH2O]

It will be interesting to see how they compare to "true huck's" from Montana. After all, they aren't called "garden" hucks here!

(And, as I've posted elsewhere, lots of people here have tried to cultivate hucks domestically and have yet to do so. They've gotten plants to sometimes grow, but not flower or put out fruit. But, as you know -- having tasted Montana hucks -- people keep trying!)

 

[NorthernWinos]

I Googled garden Huckleberries...as last year I had asked this same question....


I think from experience growing Tomatoes and Tomatillos that you should save a few seeds and plant more indoors in about 6 weeks from now. I think they will grow very fast and get very leggy.



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<TD width=250></TD>
<TD>GARDEN HUCKLEBERRY


Jill MacKenzie
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<CENTER>Garden Huckleberry</CENTER>
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Garden huckleberry or wonderberry (Solanum melanocerasum, syn S. nigrum guineense) is not related to true huckleberries, woody plants in the heath family. Instead, it is an herbaceous annual in the nightshade family, related to tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, eggplant and potato. An unusual crop for gardeners to try, garden huckleberry bears small jet-black berries that are cooked and sweetened, and often combined with other fruits such as apples, lemons and grapes, to make jellies, preserves and pies.


Culture of garden huckleberry is similar to tomato culture: start plants indoors in early April, covering the seeds with ¼ inch of soil. Germination should take one to two weeks. Transplant to a sunny location outdoors when all danger of frost is past and the weather has settled, in late May or early June. Allow two feet between plants.


Garden huckleberry plants resemble pepper plants, bushy and erect, up to two feet tall. Flowers, appearing in clusters in July, are small and white. Each plant will bear hundreds of ½-¾-inch berries, ripening from green to deep black. One plant should produce enough berries for a single pie.


The fruits are not edible until fully ripe and cooked. They are toxic if eaten unripe, and the raw fruit is quite bitter. The berries are ready to harvest about two weeks after they first turn black, when their skin has changed from shiny to dull, and the flesh is very soft. The interior pulp will turn from greenish to purple when ripe. The flavor of the berries is improved by allowing them to remain on the plant until after the first frost. The plants have some cold tolerance and may continue to ripen fruit after light frosts.


The following companies are sources for garden huckleberry seeds:



<CENTER>
<TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=2 align=center =white>
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<TD vAlign=top width="30%">Farmers Seed &amp; Nursery
818 NW Fourth Street
Faribault, MN 55021
(507) 334-8214 </TD>
<TD width="5%"></TD>
<TD vAlign=top width="30%">Seeds Blum
HC 33 Idaho City Stage
Boise, ID 83706
(Catalog: $3.00)
[email protected] </TD>
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<TD vAlign=top width="30%">Stokes Seeds, Inc.
Box 548
Buffalo, NY 14240-0548
[email protected] </TD></TR></T></TABLE></CENTER>




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[JWMINNESOTA]

It will be interesting to see how they compare to "true huck's" from Montana. After all, they aren't called "garden" hucks here!

(And, as I've posted elsewhere, lots of people here have tried to cultivate hucks domestically and have yet to do so. They've gotten plants to sometimes grow, but not flower or put out fruit. But, as you know -- having tasted Montana hucks -- people keep trying!)

Oil, do feel free to send a few bushels of Hucks to me this fall, I will gladly let you know how they compare!

 

[NorthernWinos]

Got about 2 inches of snow here this morning...Then the wind picked up and it looked pretty wintry out there...


But the sunset was beautiful...can't see the snow blowing by at 30MPH....

 

[grapeman]

That's a nice sunset indeed. Does that mean you got your new camera back from repairs?

 

[NorthernWinos]

No...That's the old timer...Fuji..It has it's place. The Sony should be home tomorrow...guess they replaced the lens mechanisum....Sure miss it...have had new birds around....

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

21° and flurries today, winter wonderland

, son is flying in from Phoenix friday, im sure it wont be a shock to come in from 70's to 80's to this

Maybe Rocko will play in the snow with him

 

[Joanie]

Holy cow! Rocko is way too cute for words!!!

 

[grapeman]

School is out today again here. We only got a couple inches of snow, but then a half inch or more of ice glazing everything. It will warm up to thawing hopefully later today and melt the ice off. Another storm brewing in the south and headed here for the weekend. YEAH, more snow or ice!

 

[uavwmn]

jwminn, omg, Rocko has such a sweet little face!!!! I live south of Phoenix and yes, your son will have a meltdown!!! hahahaha

 

[Joanie]

Don't you mean a freeze up???

 

[Joanie]

Here's a little bit of the ice we had on Wednesday.

We going to get more bad weather today thru Sunday. When is Spring???

 

[moose]

20 degrees below zero this morning!

 

[grapeman]

I hope everyone is coping with this latest storm alright across the mid to eastern US. It is bringing nasty weather to everywhere it seems. Snow in places it rarely snows, wind, tornados, and tons of rain to the northeast. I got up this morning knowing it had snowed last night and everything is totally coated with nice wet heavy snow. The wind has picked up tremendously and there are intermittent wihiteouts. We are in a lull between edges of the storm and are expecting heavy rain/snow/sleet etc all day turning back to heavy snow tonight.


It is a good day to stay inside. Unfortunately work schedules don't allow for that today and we all need to head out on these roads. How's everybody else fairing?

 

[hannabarn]

Winter sure is hanging around. minus 18 this morning but is warming up fast! Up to 0 now at 8 AM!

 

[Waldo]

We dodged the bullet on the heavy snow here. Was supposed to have received 10-12 inches but got only 1-2 at the most and it is all about gone now.