Perhaps it is time to change your paradigm.

I grow guavas, mangos, citrus, avocados, papaya, pineapples, etc. that wouldn't have a prayer of surviving in Oregon.

With a little work you can grow lots of things here. Turn lemons into lemonade. Oh, lemons grow great here too!

This is pertinent to Tucson (cooler than us) but is a good place to start:

http://ag.arizona.edu/gardening/news/articles/index.html

I have eaten blackberries here.

http://ag.arizona.edu/gardening/news/articles/18.25.html

Welcome to AZ and good luck!

Strawberries and blackberries will both grow here. They need water and will do better with a bit of shade in the afternoon.

PS: Not like Oregon, though. I've visited my s-i-l in Albany in strawberry season. Mmmmmm fresh strawberries and homemade ice cream.

Welcome. I'm rather new here myself. In our military travels, we had the opportunity to live in the NW and you are so right, berries galore. I couldn't believe that ripe sweet blackberries were ours, free for the picking, all over our wooded condo complex.
The SW has its joys as well. As Sonotaps suggested, there are other things to grow and try. We are having success with grapes. One fruit that does really well here is pomegranate. Our two trees are loaded and are child-friendly for picking (no thorns). For sheer volume, I've found our jujube trees(Chinese dates) are thick with fruit- the downside is that soon enough, the sidewalk and roof will be thick with fruit as well.
It is a thrill to live here and grow things that can't be grown elsewhere. The trick is finding something really, really different that you enjoy eating. And welcome- the SW is quite a contrast to the rainy NW!

Thanks for the welcomes! We do have a lemon tree in our front yard, and I was definitely considering grapes for somewhere in the back. We will have no shade at all back there, unless we put in some sort of wall (not likely) or lattice for vines to climb. Pomegranates sound great, as do the blackberries. I have seen ads for the strawberry hanging baskets, and have thought about those too. I guess we can do some trial and error and see what will grow and what won't out here. The worst that can happen is we dig it up and put in something else!

try southern blueberries maybe some shade will help i had northen high bush in ri now lookin for citrus like comquats ernie

I've heard that blackberries get pretty crazy here, probably because there's no winter to nip them back. If you do decide to grow them, be sure to keep them at a managable size so they don't take your yard over.

Welcome again, hope we hear from you often!

I know there is....was? a place in Queen Creek that I use to go to every year and pick blackberries and raspberries every year, around April. So yes they grow here. I remember eating as many as I picked, and they begged you to fill your trays to overheaping, and still only charged $12 for a flat of them, which I thought was very reasonable, compared to 3, 4 or 5 bucks at the grocery store for a 1.2 pint...gasp! A friend and I use to go together, she would always call me...hmmmm, I'm going to have to check on her, haven't heard from her since che was layed off from the big "M". I bet you someone here knows the place I speak of? I want to say Schnepf farms, but not sure that is right.

Easy

I don't think it is Schnepf Farms, but I do remember going there a couple times myself. Schnepf does the peach thing and other stone fruit, but we were there a couple times this year (my son lives about 1 mile away) and we picked lots of peaches, but I do not remember berries... The other place had huge fields of blackberries and raspberries- nice to pick for the basket and for snacking along the way.... it was somewhat more south and a little more west than Schnepfs......

Susie
craving berries too!

Oh how your post makes my heart quiver! I just now completed an email to my uncle Patrick up in Sweet Home, Oregon. The fruit that grows wild there will never be matched by this Arizona desert, but then Oregon's growing season cannot compete with Arizona's. I am a transplanted Oregonian, and as such can never find enough green here to satisfy my soul, but my garden here in Gilbert is the envy of all my relatives up there in the wet, green state. Just this summer I took 20 some pounds of tomatoes and a cantalope, and two giant onions on the plane to Portland, which I distributed to appreciative uncles, aunts, and Mom upon my arrival. You will find that there are lots of great things to grow here for your daughter to go out in the garden and browse upon. We have had great success with strawberries and grapes of three varieties, and you can't beat growing your own pomegranites, which flourish here. The citrus is wonderful, and we enjoy peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, apples, and we are trying for some good pears, although to date we have only grown oriental ones akin to small cannonballs and practically inedible. I was glad to see in responses to your post that blackberries will grow here. I tried some years back, but didn't have much luck, and I just LOVE 'em. The wine I made from them in Sweet Home 20 years ago was so good my mouth waters just thinking of them! And up there they grow EVERYWHERE.

I am sure you will love gardening in this desert state, especially since you are blessed with a big lot. Be sure to set aside enough room for a big garden, you will be glad you did. Send me an email via GardenWeb and I will send you a few pictures of what grows here. You will be amazed!

Thank you for all your repsonses; they gave me many ideas for what to plant. I guess I assumed berries don't do well here because they are so rare and so spendy in the grocery stores. I will start browsing some nurseries and see what I can find to put in the ground. Thanks again!

I would love to know if anyone has heard of a place in Queen Creek to pick berries and if so, where?