The weather is nice and the berries and blackberries are growing abundantly. A great time for wild pickers who want to go home with a full bucket. And also at the blueberry picking garden of Van Grotel in Nuenen it is rush hour and the last berries have to be picked from the bushes.
It takes some searching in Genneper Parken, but then the berries and blackberries really do appear. “We are lucky that they have grown up nicely here and that we have a full blackberry bush. July and August are really the top months though and that’s when you see the best blackberries”, permaculturist Marije van der Park explains.
“You do have to be careful to pick the right blackberries. Good dark colour and often above knee height. Then dogs or sometimes even foxes won’t have peed against them”.
Wild picking
So blackberries and berries can be found in Genneper Parken and so wild pickers can make their move there. “That’s really becoming a trend, yes. Here in nature the berries and blackberries are unsprayed and processed and therefore full of nutrients. That’s quite a difference if you look at the trays that are in the supermarket. I think people have also become more aware of what grows in nature and what we can do with it”, Van der Park notes.
The increasing prevalence of blackberries has to do with climate change and the nitrogen issue, which also plays a role in this. “A blackberry is a crop that thrives on nitrogen and cleans the soil. If there’s a lot of nitrogen somewhere or released, it’s likely that the bramble will be there. We are also seeing more and more blackberry bushes in residential areas”.
Berry season
Those who prefer to be assured of a full bucket can also go to blueberry picking garden Van Grotel. “We still have the last berries here. We open the picking garden in early July, and that’s when you’ll find the best blueberries. And if things go well you can pick here until September”, owner Christian van Grotel explains.
“Unfortunately, the weather has been really bad for two weeks and because of that we are now going to close early. We say to the people who still want spots now, that unfortunately there is little left hanging. As a matter of fact, it really is”.
For their yogurt or to make jam. Visitors have their own reasons for picking blueberries. Buying a container in the supermarket is out of the question. “That’s no comparison anyway. These are much tastier and often in the supermarket a tray of blue berries is much more expensive than a bucket here”, one of the pickers explains.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
