Berry-palooza

We've finally got all of the trellis poles in the ground and now they're just waiting for me to string the bailing wire. Note: bailing wire smells. Then I have to go get more manure and plant the actual brambles. They've started sprouting leaves in their pots. Time to crack down and get it done I guess.
Allow me to take this time to describe the difference between everbearing and june bearing raspberries. June bearing raspberries bear fruit in june -whodda thunk it?- and continue to produce through the early summer. While everbearing produces a crop of fruit on old canes in june and then another crop on new canes in late august or early september. The second crop continues producing until the frost. In addition to boysenberries and blackberries we will be planting heritage raspberries this year. Heritage is an everbearing type. Since it will be the plant's first year in the ground I don't know that we'll get an early summer crop, seeing as there are no old canes. I've read that many farmers cut back the everbearing types opting for only one harvest in august/september. I doubt we'll do that. Although I've toyed with the idea since we also have blackberries and boysenberries. It would be nice to get a large crop of raspberries all at once for jamming. I'm going to see what kind of berry output we get with the three bushes and adjust accordingly for next year. I thought three bramble fruit bushes would be plenty but while perusing the burpee catalog I saw that one order of raspberries equals five plants. Maybe three isn't as many as I thought. They'll grow and spread over time, sending up new shoots, so I'm not too worried. I'm sooo excited for these berries!!! A small container in the store runs upwards of 5 bucks, so to have them right in the backyard, in abundance -fingers crossed- will be a blessing.

And speaking of berries, all 15 sunberry starts have sprouted, some already have "true" leaves! -the first two leaves on a seedling are technically considered the seed casing. I'm impressed that all of them have sprouted. When after 10 days we only had one, I started losing hope, but now all of them are on their way towards berry production. Information about the sunberry is pretty limited, although last week I did discover that it's technically a cross between brambles, which is strange since it looks and tastes almost exactly like a blueberry. I'm not sure what growing conditions it likes, or whether it will produce fruit in it's first year. It's going to be a trial and error summer with the sunberries.
Moving on. Requesting more seed catalogs this "late" in the season was a big mistake. I had my garden all planned out, but now have my eye on carolina cross #183 watermelon seeds. The melons can grow up to 200 pounds!!! I doubt they'll get that big in my yard...maybe if I put them in the grow heap... I don't know where my obsession with giant produce came from or why I have it in the first place. Must be the freak factor. One thing is certain: these seed catalogs will be my undoing.

Hope everyone is doing well!
P.S. these white currants make me very jealous of cooler climates! I wish we could grow them here, and gooseberries too! Don't they look so refreshing?!