A few weeks ago, I got to sample some berries from 3 of the 4 varieties I planted in the fall: (blue moon,blue velvet, cinderella, borealis). This was the first time I've tried honeyberries, so I thought I'd report to others who are wondering about their taste. I really liked them; I think they are better than an average store bought blueberry but not as sweet as the best homegrown blueberries. Also, they were very juicy. I was not disappointed at all. Mine are grown in full sun and I left them on the bush for maybe three days after they turned blue. I held out a few days longer for one, and it was better than the others. I think they were good enough that I'm going to plant a row or two of them this fall. This post was edited by Ztom on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 22:51

Yep, still here! Maybe we'll see you this summer, Thirsty! You're right, it is windy but we are surrounded by trees and out of the wind. The campground on the other hand, across the highway, is VERY windy! I don't know what I'll do about the wildlife. I know there's a lot of it! One reason we like it here - I'm a wildlife artist and so love the area but it's hard on gardens! I was considering hostas, but I know all the ungulates love them, so there's no point. Lots of wild roses to transplant, though! I'm mostly interested in growing herbs and tomatoes, some spinach and greens and berries, grapes and asparagus. (I know asparagus takes years.) Suzy: I'd love to hear how your gardens go this year and if you use straw bales. Sounds like you have a lot of great stuff planned to grow! I might be interested in a trade this fall, after I see how the gardens go this year. There is an angus cattle farm down the highway, just outside of Fort Nelson where I might be able to get a truckload of OLD manure to beef up the soil. There's also lots of old manure piles from the sheep, caribou, moose and elk that frequent that area. I saw plenty of it last summer. This year I plan to scoop it all up and use it. It's chemical free! Not too sure about manure from a cattle farm. I don't want growth hormones, steroids or antibiotics in the soil...

Cherries vary one kind to another on resistance. In our area research at Mt Vernon WA has listed recommended ones more well suited. I went for that which is why I had long ago went with Surefire and the sweet cherry Early Burlat. Over the years my Burlat had been as disease free as the Japanese types of flowering cherries (shirofugen, prunus osima zakura etc.) And superior to others in my neighborhood. One main problem is the flowers bloom to early on the hill heights area in Vancouver WA (above Portland) and even though the bloom is rain resistant the bees are not pollinating during poor conditions and thus little fruit. I must hand pollinate. Other than the above remedy of selecting the right ones and about later bee friendly blooming ones you could try the idea of hand pollinating. I always set fruit on Burlat from Van cherry from my little greenhouse. In your case a Burlat flower from one you could graft to CJ tree could be dried indoors, possibly store it in fridge for a few days, and applied to CJ flowers. Even though nothing that I know of can be found to spray on to prevent infections you can still "wait and see". By that I mean to get your tree to over about 5 years of age because age 2-4 is the most prone years according to tests done West of the Cascades in Oregon.

We ordered 300 Tundra and Borealis from Canada in September and distributed about half of them to other local green thumbs. The plants spent a week in transit but were still moist upon arrival. We gave a couple of bushes to a relative in Albert Lea, MN, and look forward to seeing how they do in the rich soil down there. I just talked with a grower (not a seller) in Saskatchewan this evening and he verified how sweet the Canadian berries are that have been cross-bred at the U of S. He said that the Russian Berry Blue (the pollinizer) is fine for processing as you can add sugar, but both Tundra and Borealis are great off the bush. We plan to order another shipment from Canada in the spring of 2011.