Growing Blueberries

Immature blueberries.

Blueberries are all the rage for home gardens.  They are a great fruit to try as the plants are just small shrubs and there is a huge selection of varieties that will grow  in just about any climate or growing zone.

My row of blueberry plants.

I have four different varieties growing in my garden.  Planting multiple varieties not only helps with pollination but will also give you a staggered harvest rather than getting a lump all at once.  All blueberry plants like well draining soil that is on the acidic side but there are quite a few varieties out there that have been bred to adapt better to alkaline soils.  Below are some photos of some of my blueberry plants. 

This is a a very compact variety of blueberry known as 'Top Hat'.  As you can see, it is loaded with flowers!

This is 'Blue Jay', a standard variety.

'Pink Lemonade', the blueberry that produces pink berries.

'Pink Lemonade' is a variety of blueberry that was bred to produce pink berries.  My small plant did not produce any flowers this year so I will not get to have any of these curiousities in my yogurt.  However, I have had the opportunity to taste them.  Everyone I have talked to says something different but, in my opinion, they taste no different than a regular blue blueberry. 

Bird netting attached to the deck with push pins and held up with sticks!

I have just recently put up some bird netting over the row of blueberry plants in an effort to keep the birds from eating my entire crop (which is what happened last year, 2010).  This is a good idea if you live at a location where there are a lot of birds that frequent your garden for insects and other tasty morsels. 

For more information on 'Pink Lemonade', visit my company's website:  Briggs Plant Propagators
Here are a couple of links of where to purchase 'Pink Lemonade':  Burpee and Unique Plant Shop

For more information on how to keep birds from eating your blueberries:
How to protect blueberries from birds.

Next post:  Growing Strawberries