Red Lake Currants: A Delicious and Bountiful Harvest

If you’re looking for a fruit that’s both tasty and abundant, Red Lake currants are a fantastic choice! Known for their vibrant red color and tart-sweet flavor, these currants have a rich history that makes them a beloved variety among gardeners. This year, we’re thrilled to be getting an exceptional harvest of these delicious berries, and they’ve been a joy to pick and enjoy.

A Bit of History

Red Lake currants were developed in Minnesota in the 1930s by researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Agricultural Experiment Station. The variety was named after the Red Lake River area, reflecting the region where it was first cultivated. The breeders aimed to create a currant that was both hardy and prolific, capable of withstanding the harsh winters of the northern United States while producing high yields of large, flavorful berries.

Over the decades, Red Lake currants have become one of the most popular currant varieties in North America. Their resilience and excellent fruit quality have made them a staple in home gardens and small farms across cooler climates.

Why Choose Red Lake Currants?

Red Lake currants are prized for their large, juicy berries and prolific yields. This variety is particularly well-suited to USDA zones 3-7, where it thrives in cooler temperatures. The currants grow in clusters, making them easy to pick, and they’re perfect for fresh eating, cooking, or preserving.

Taste and Versatility

The flavor of Red Lake currants is a delightful balance of tartness and sweetness. They’re wonderful to eat fresh off the bush, but they also shine in various culinary uses. From making jams and jellies to baking into desserts or adding to savory dishes, their versatility is a major plus. One of our favorite ways to enjoy them is simply over vanilla ice cream—the combination is absolutely delicious!

Growing and Harvesting

Red Lake currants are relatively low-maintenance, requiring only basic care to produce an abundant crop. They prefer well-drained soil and a sunny to partially shaded location. Regular watering and mulching will help the plants thrive, and they’re quite hardy, making them a reliable fruit for years to come.

This season, our Red Lake currant bushes have been particularly generous, yielding plenty of fruit for us to enjoy. Whether you’re an experienced gardener or just starting, growing Red Lake currants is a rewarding experience that will bring both beauty and flavor to your garden.

If you haven’t tried growing Red Lake currants yet, consider adding them to your garden—they might just become your new favorite fruit!

Strawberries

Question: How do I grow larger strawberries?

If you want to snack on strawberries throughout the season, you need to plant at least 10 plants per person in your household. The first year, you should pinch off the flowers so the plants will focus on putting down more roots. More roots mean bigger fruit the next year. I’ve had a strawberry patch for several years, and here are a few tips based on my experience.

Variety Selection

There are many varieties of strawberries, and choosing the right ones can make a big difference in your yield and fruit size. Here are the main types:

  • Day-Neutral Varieties: These produce fruit throughout the growing season. They are ideal if you want a consistent yield over several months.
  • June-Bearing Varieties: These produce a large crop once a year, usually in late spring or early summer. They are great if you want a large harvest at once for making jams, freezing, or preserving.
  • Ever-Bearing Varieties: These produce two to three harvests per year, typically in spring, summer, and fall. They provide a good compromise between the other two types.

Consider Your Zone

It’s important to choose varieties that are well-suited to your growing zone. I’m in zone 5A, but I’ve purchased several different varieties that do well down to zone 3A. This way, I don’t have to worry about them surviving the winter. Make sure to check the hardiness of the variety you choose to ensure they will thrive in your local climate.

Additional Tips

  • Soil and Location: Plant strawberries in well-draining soil and a sunny location where they can get at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight daily.
  • Watering and Mulching: Consistent watering is key, especially during fruiting. Mulch with straw, pine needles, or black plastic to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and keep the fruit clean.
  • Fertilization: Use a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, mixed into the soil before planting. Apply more during the growing season as needed, but avoid over-fertilizing.

By following these tips, you can enjoy a bountiful harvest of delicious, home-grown strawberries!

2022 Planting Inventory

June 8, 2022 – will be edited and adjusted.

7 Currant Bushes

2 Consort Black Currant
Black currants are quarter-inch fruits that hang in a long sprig like tiny grapes or red currants. These are rich and sweet-tart with a distinctive flavor similar to juniper (they are used traditionally in cassis, an alcoholic beverage with notes of gin).

3 Red Lake Currants
Intense flavor. Considered the best red currant. Large and juicy red berries ripen in late spring through the summer months, with intense flavor ideal for making preserves. Red berries, although tart, can be eaten fresh picked and are attractive to birds.

1 Gwen’s Buffalo Currant
Gwen’s Buffalo’ is an improved selection of our native Western current grown for its profuse display of fragrant yellow flowers and large, black edible berries. Drought resistant/drought tolerant plant

1 Crandall Currant
4-6′ tall x 4-6′ wide. ‘Crandall’ currant is a fast-growing heirloom fruiting shrub with fragrant bright-yellow mid-spring flowers followed by large edible blue-black currants.

13 Gooseberry Bushes

2 Black Velvet Gooseberry
Black Velvet is a hybrid of gooseberry and Worcesterberry, described as having small, dark red, sweet, high quality fruit with a superb, almost blueberry-like flavor.

2 Captivator Gooseberry
As Captivator gooseberries mature their semi-translucent skin turns from green to a pink/dark red hue. Their inner flesh has a jelly-like consistency offering a sweet flavor and lingering tart notes.

2 Jeanne gooseberry
Jeanne is a dainty, sweet, full-flavored, very productive new dark red dessert gooseberry with multiple disease resistance! It is the most resistant to powdery mildew of any cultivar and is also very resistant to White Pine Blister rust. It shows less defoliation from sawflies than other gooseberry cultivars.

3 Jahn’s Prairie Gooseberry
An easy to grow, mildew and rust-resistant, highly productive bush with large red berries that have a tasty, sweet/tart flavor.

2 Pixwell Gooseberry
Pixwell Gooseberry produces small to medium, pink berries with excellent sweet/tart flavor on nearly thornless canes that can be eaten fresh or transformed into jellies and pies. Very cold hardy, these plants require very little maintenance after establishment.

2 Hinnomaki Red Gooseberry
Hinnomaki Red gooseberry is a variety from Finland with superb flavor, high yields, and a beautiful red fruit color. The outer skin is tangy while the flesh is sweet.
5 Jostaberry

4 Jostaberry
The berries are sweet and luscious when ripe, tasting like sweet gooseberries with a slight flavor of black currant. And caring for jostaberries is easy since those who developed the shrub included a built-in resistance or immunity to most berry diseases.

1 Tasti-Berry #1
Height: 3′-4′ Spread: 3′-4′. A cross was made by Oregon State University between the black currant and the gooseberry. Unlike ‘Jostaberry’, it inherited the thorns and sweeter flavor of its gooseberry parent. Scored “most delicious” in taste tests of Ribes here at the nursery. Full sun. Zone 4.

2 Elderberry

2 Black Elderberry

50+ Strawberries Several Varieties
Mara DeBois
Cavendish

7 Trees

2 Green Gauges Zone 4-8 (planted 2020)
The greengages are a group of cultivars of the common European plum. The first true greengage came from a green-fruited wild plum that originated in Iran. Greengages are grown in temperate areas and are known for the rich, confectionery flavor. They are considered to be among the finest dessert plums.

1 Stanley Plum (2019) Zone 5 – 7
Juicy, sweet, and delicious, the plums have a rich flavor and are perfect for eating, canning or making jelly. Very popular, this European plum tree is self-fertile but yields more heavily when pollinated with another cultivar.

1 Mount Royal Plum (2021) Zone 4a
It produces blue round fruit (technically ‘drupes’) with purple overtones and gold flesh which are usually ready for picking in late summer. Note that the fruits have hard inedible pits inside which must be removed before eating or processing. The fruits have a sweet taste and a juicy texture.

1 Superior Plum (2019) Zone 4 – 8
A cross between a Japanese and American variety plum, the Superior was bred to produce top-quality fruit in a hardy tree that can stand up well to the coldest winter chills. Despite its tolerance to bitter temperatures, the Superior looks right at home in the spring, producing lovely, ornamental blooms throughout the tree. Like the name says, the fruit, color and strength are all Superior.

Superior Defines Juicy. Aside from the tree’s numerous attributes, it’s the fruit that will win you over. Substantially sized, flawlessly symmetrical, and finished off with the perfect color, the Superior Plum is a visually outstanding specimen of a fruit. As they ripen, they look as though they’re bursting with juice and flavor. And they are. This is an excellent dessert plum. Slice and cover ice creams, mix into refreshing fruit salads or just grab one and enjoy it right off the tree. The taste is quintessential plum from a tree that lives up to its name.

The Superior Plum is a Japanese and American hybrid that produces a late mid-season crop of the firm, sweet plums. Their bold red skin gives way to a sweet yellow flesh that is rich and flavorful.

2 Grafted Esplaired Apple Trees – Braeburn, Gravenstein, Wolf River (2021)

1 Semi-Dwarf Black Beauty Mulberry (2021)

2 Golden Nugget Hops
1 Cascade Hops
1 Chinook Hops

Flowers
1 Korean Lilac
2 Common Lilac

Plants we’d like to get:
Hinnomaki Yellow Gooseberry
Outstanding aromatic flavor distinguishes this variety. The medium-large, sweet, yellow-green berry has a luscious aftertaste reminiscent of apricot. Its outstanding fall foliage color is another reason to invite Hinnonmaki Yellow into your gardens.

Fort Laramie Strawberries