In the mid year, around late August or early September, the trenches in Nebraska are loaded up with dull, dark, and purple berries.
The birds quickly consume these clumps of tiny fruits. However, prior to that, I gather as many as I can for use in baking, tincturing, and drying into powder.
What exactly are these desirable beauties? They are an assortment of elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), a plant that is local to numerous region in the US, and that is turning out to be progressively well known as a purposeful expansion to yards and nurseries.
A nearby of lots of dark elderberries.
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The elderberry has such countless astonishing purposes, and I’m eager to see it getting back in the saddle!
Understanding the Plant There are numerous varieties of elderberry available to home gardeners today.
Plant elderberry in a part of your garden that is cool and moist | GardenersPath.com To be honest, they are so similar to one another that I’m not sure which one is better for growing at home. The names I see the most are:
Adams Johns Kent Lacinaiata (a cutleaf variety) Nova Scotia York All cultivars are distinguished by their compound leaves, shrub-like plant structure, and large, stunning white flower clusters.
June is when the flowers open. They are similar to the snowball hydrangeas that many gardeners aspire to grow, but these also produce fruits that are amazing to eat!
The flowers can also be used as herbs and in cooking.
Choosing the Right Place to Plant It’s important to spend some time thinking about the right place to plant even if you’ve already been convinced of the advantages of adding this treasure to your yard.
Elderberries, according to educator Nicole Haxton at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension, prefer partial shade and cool, moist conditions rather than hot, dry conditions. Avoid areas where there is a lot of standing water because proper drainage is essential to preventing root rot.
Plant elderberry shrubberies in the spring, when the risk of ice has passed | GardenersPath.com
It is suggested that you plant two by two, something like 60 feet separated, for the full advantage of cross fertilization (more organic product to appreciate!)
Provide ample space between plants. The better the shrubs do against diseases of the leaf structure, the more air that can move between them. Mature bushes will require a lot of space to flourish because they can reach heights of 12 feet and widths of six feet.
After frost has passed, elderberries should be planted in the spring. If you order from a reputable seed or plant supplier, they typically send out plant orders at the right time for planting in your climate.
Find or create a soil pH level where your new plant will thrive while you wait. A pH range of 5.5-6.6 is suggested by Cornell University’s Department of Horticulture.
Just a Little Maintenance One of the main reasons I like elderberries so much is that they are easy to care for.
The fact that they continue to thrive in the wild despite being sprayed and cut by farmers in the area is evidence that they are a remarkably robust breed.
They will continue to exist if they survive their first year!
The elderberry bush’s spectacular and abundant white blooms are similar to snowball hydrangeas: The question now is, how should elderberries be handled during their initial tender months?
Likewise with any plant, cautiously guarantee that they are watered well. Elderberries initially require and can handle a substantial amount of water. There is little risk of overwatering as long as the moisture can drain away from the base of the plant.
Additionally, fertilization is never a bad idea. If your soil is amended with some manure or compost, it can supply much of the plant’s requirements.
For more information on the requirements for elderberry fertilizer, see this article.
Additionally, Cornell’s Horticulture Department suggests that you “apply 1/8 pound of ammonium nitrate (or 0.5 lbs. 10-10-10), up to 4 lbs. per plant, for each year the plant has been in existence. 10-10-10).” This ought to be finished in the spring consistently after its underlying planting.
A Note on Weeds The common weed would be the kryptonite of this extremely robust plant. Elderberry plants have shallow roots, so they can without much of a stretch become busy out by forceful kinds.
I always use my hands to get rid of weeds, but any hard cultivation shouldn’t disturb more than 2 inches of topsoil.
Appreciate pre-fall’s abundance of elderberries by establishing brambles in your nursery | GardenersPath.com
One method for guaranteeing your plant doesn’t go into shock from the disturbance of weeding is to forestall the presence of undesirable weeds regardless.
Mulch should be applied over the plant after a good landscape cloth has been laid down. An edge trimmer can be used to pull or even handle any stray weeds.
Is Pruning Required?
I’ll be truthful. I seldom prune my elderberries.
I tend to let the chickens do what they want because many of them are native to my yard and the rest were thoughtfully planted by wild chickens.
If you’re a thoughtful person, you can always remove the plant’s largest and oldest hardwood sticks at the end of the season to let the plant channel its energy into new shoots the following year. However, do not overthink it.
You can find additional pruning tips here.
The most labor-intensive part of owning an elderberry, in my opinion, is harvesting the fruit. It is simple to remove the berries from the plant. However, skill is required for everything else after that.
When the berries are as dark purple or black as you can imagine, you should harvest them. They ought to be extremely juicy and soft.
Learn how to harvest elderberry fruit from a bush at GardenersPath.com. If the fruit looks like a raisin and is shriveled, you have waited too long.
It’s hard to pick them before the birds do. Assuming that you have a lot of berries in bunches that are near being prepared, you might feel free to get every one of them.
Because it is impossible to pick individual berries, you will need to look at the group and select a significant number of ripe ones when making your choice. Again, if nearly all of them are ripe, the birds will probably find them the following day.
Cut the entire cluster with good pruning shears just below the fruit’s beginning base. I immediately transport all of them home by placing them in a hardware store-purchased 5-gallon plastic bucket.
Here, you can learn more about elderberry harvesting.
Preparing the Fruits This step is necessary for any use of the fruits, whether you want to can them for jam and jelly, make a pie, or make a tincture to fight colds and flu.
In the event that bugs are slithering all around your organic products, you can permit the bunches to absorb water for a couple of hours and afterward utilize immediately. Alternately, you can freeze using this easy method by waiting a day:
1. Place the berry clusters flat on a towel to drain after being rinsed.
2. Place each cluster on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Place the whole sheet into the cooler for somewhere around 24 hours.
3. Remove the frozen fruits and place them in a plastic gallon storage bag.
4. Until you hear all of the little frozen fruits rattling around in the bag, gently tap the bag against a counter.
Separate the fruits from the stems, which ought to be mostly intact. Voila!
In the event that you could do without freezing, need extra room, or need to utilize the natural products immediately, you can utilize a fork to eliminate the natural products from the stems.
Scrape along each stem, pulling the berries along with it, beginning at the thickest part of the berry bunch.
Keep in mind that using this method, you’ll also get a lot of stemmy material. After that, I like to give it a triple rinse through a fine-mesh strainer.
Uses for the Fruit My favorite ways to eat elderberries could go on and on. They are not your typical “pack in a lunchbox” snack because they are sour and leave a funny aftertaste that I am unable to fully explain.
Learn how to grow and prepare elderberries at GardenersPath.com. They are edible, can be canned, or juiced, and have been linked to impressive health benefits.
Elderberry may be used to alleviate symptoms for the following conditions:
Bacterial Sinusitis, Colds, and Flu As with any natural or alternative remedy, consult your physician before beginning anything new. I’ve been making elderberry color for a really long time and view it as my favored method for utilizing the berries.
Methods of Propagation According to University of Missouri Extension Regional Horticulture Specialist Patrick Byers, there are three ways to propagate elderberry cuttings: hardwood with sprouts, softwood, and hardwood The process of cutting softwood, which you can do without rooting hormones or additives, will make it easiest for you to do this at home.
Softwood Cuttings: These must be taken before mid-July in the Midwestern United States while the elderberry plant is growing. Keep in mind that the precise time of year may fluctuate slightly depending on where you are.)
The procedure involves removing three to six inches of the branches’ greenest tips. You can strip the leaves, keeping only one main leaf at each branch’s end.
For cross-pollination, plant elderberry bushes in pairs, no more than 60 feet apart: https://gardenerspath.com/plants/fruit/grow-elderberries/ To preserve the freshness of your softwood cuttings, soak the cut ends for approximately 12 hours in water in a mason jar before planting them in soil that has the right pH for elderberries (5.5-6.6).
Before transplanting the cuttings to their permanent location in the yard or garden or even into a larger pot (if you have a smaller cultivar), you can use small seed starting containers to allow the cuttings to develop sturdy roots. This ought to be completed in the fall.
After the 12-hour soak, you can place the new cuttings directly in the soil if you are confident that they won’t be disturbed.
Keep the soil around the new planting moist but not so wet that it forms a pool of water. Within a few weeks, the cuttings should begin to grow into miniature versions of the original plant!
Here, you can learn more about how cuttings spread.
Why You Should Grow Your Own For the time being, these amazing berry bushes have taken over the ditches and wetlands of the Nebraska River Valley. However, this could alter at any time.
Learn how to grow elderberry bushes at GardenersPath.com. The elderberry plant could disappear from the wild acres near my house due to changes in the landscape brought about by farming and modernization.
Because of this, I have decided to plant these robust and beautiful bushes with a specific purpose.
My family will always have fresh berries, regardless of what happens in the wild, because I plant them in my orchard, along the fence lines of my pasture, and in the yard’s corners. We know so much about this plant that it can be planted and cared for successfully.
