We planted our first crop in the fall of 2007. Most of our budget for the year went into field preparation and a rather deep well we needed for irrigation. So we only planted 2 acres of berries. We're planting two varieties of blueberry plant: Bluecrop and Reka. Bluecrop are remarkably fresh tasting and small scarred (small stem footprint); they are the most reliable and most widely planted of any blueberry. Reka, developed in New Zealand in 1985, is one of the fastest growing and most adaptable varieties.
We filled out the rest of our available acreage with 10,500 more plants. This makes our farm slightly larger than 10 acres, 13,500 plants. We, again, planted Bluecrop and Reka. The winter of 2008 was unusual for Oregon, with heavy snow, ice and low temperatures in the Willamette Valley. The blueberry bush is very hardy and can withstand much harsher conditions than this, but we didn't take that for granted. We inspected the field several times during the cold streak, checking on not only the plants, but on our irrigation system as well.
Our next planting will likely be in 2011. This will also be the first year that we'll be harvesting the etirety of the first 10 acres.
