Quality blueberry bushes make the ideal addition to your garden. Blueberries are a great fruit crop for the local garden since they are very easy to grow, require a small amount of space and are very healthy. When you grow your own plants you know they are healthy, pesticide-free and produce fruit that is safe for your friends and family to enjoy.
Knowing how your food is grown and where it comes from is important in our world today. You should know your food! Knowing you are growing healthy blueberries can help give you the peace of mind and it is definitely worth the investment.
Quality blueberry plants will last you a lifetime. Once established a blueberry plant can grow and produce blueberries for 25 years. Keep in mind, locally grown blueberries in a good investment.
Planting
Making a 4 x 12 ft box filled with peat moss can make a very good place to grow your plants so you can mow around them with no difficulty and more easily control the pH of the planting medium.
Soil
You need to grow blueberries in acid soil. If you’re still unsure, most garden centres sell soil-testing kits, or you can buy one online. The pH of your soil (a measure of acidity, lower pH is more acid) should be 5.5 or lower for blueberries to thrive. Certainly, don’t expect to grow blueberries in your garden soil if its pH is above 6.0.
However, if your soil isn’t acidic, you can still grow blueberries in containers. You need special “ericaceous” potting compost (potting soil), meaning compost suitable for acid-loving plants, available from most garden centres.
Position
Blueberries grow best in full sun, but if they’re on a patio or deck in a hot climate you should place them where they will get some shade late afternoon sun.
Blueberry plants will flourish in containers all their lives. Every 3 to 4 years you should change the soil and root prune the blueberry plants to keep them the right size for your containers.
Watering
Soil in containers dries out quickly. One of the easy ways to lose your plants is to let the soil dry out. Blueberries need damp soil, so water regularly (increasing water during any heat waves) and add a thick layer of mulch, a few inches away from the stems of the bush. A watering setup with an automatic timer can be a big help in this regard.
Keep the birds away
Birds love Blueberries. One way to protect them is to wrap the bush in some bird netting.
