blueberries

Blueberries

August 11, 2012

Are you growing blueberries? I do and I LOVE being able to go out to the garden and pick a handful of really fresh berries. Blue sunshine! Living in coastal Southern California, the best kind for us to grow here are Southern Highbush blueberries. There are a number of varieties available to grow, so you have lots of choices.

My blueberries have, for the most part, have finished producing fruit so I’m leaving them alone for the time being. They aren’t really resting, though, because the growth of my bushes is booming! It’s tempting to prune, but my reading tells me to wait until the dormant season, after the leaves have fallen off the bushes. But how to prune? That is the question. Here are a few links that describe the proper care of blueberry bushes:

Four Winds Growers | University of Florida | University of Georgia | Clemson University

Blueberry flowers

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Yum!

May 1, 2012

My blueberries are starting to ripen up and I’m harvesting a small handful every day!

Blueberries

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Berry, berry good

May 16, 2011

With the weather warming up, my garden is beginning to be productive. I harvested a bowl of blueberries yesterday that were incredible. I’ve got to convince my friends to grow blueberries in their gardens! They are easy to grow and don’t have a lot of requirements. The varieties I grow are all low-chill varieties, meaning they don’t need cold weather that most berries need. Blueberries do like acid, so I’ve been spreading coffee grounds around the base of the plants.

This my first year getting fruit from my blackberries. I bought the plant at a plant sale a few years back and the guy said it was the thornless variety, but my plant has thorns. I read somewhere that thornless varieties of berries typically revert back to their original plant traits, so thorns aren’t a big surprise. Anyway, a small price to pay for yummy! I need to read up on these because I need to figure out how to fertilize, but so far, so good. I am being told that I will regret that I ever put this plant in the ground because they are notorious as agressive wanderers, but right now I’m happy to see this succulent fruit hanging in my garden!

Fresh berries from my garden – WOW!

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Blueberry Bonanza

April 28, 2010

I am not getting a huge harvest from my blueberries, but I love being able to pick five or six in the morning when I’m out perusing the garden. What a treat! It makes me much more aware of the fruit I’m buying at the Farmer’s Market, and what it takes to produce that little basket of blueberries I purchase weekly.

Last fall I planted O’Neal and Sharpblue Early Season Blueberries. The O’Neal bush is the first to ripen, which is contrary to what I thought was going to happen based on the two plants’ tags. Both have Low Chill Requirements so they are perfect for our Southern California coastal environment. I need to plant more of these in my yard. They have been EASY, EASY, EASY!!!

When it comes to fertilizer, blueberries need a little more TLC than most things I grow. Everything in my garden is getting a dose of fish emulsion fertilizer, but a few things, including the berries, need more acid in their diet, so I’ve been using cottonseed meal (available in the fertilizer section of your better garden nurseries). You can also use this on azaleas, camellias and gardenias, all acid lovers. You can buy specially formulated fertilizer that specifically targets these plants, too. As I’ve mentioned in past postings, I’m trying to consolidate as much as possible, so if I can get a broader use from a fertilizer, it’s a better solution for me.

Normally, I try to keep the articles I reprint within our SoCal region, but this article from Southern Living had a lot of useful info about blueberries that is appropriate for us west coast gardeners. Southern Living article – blueberries

Perfection!

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Precious Time in the Garden….

April 25, 2010

Yesterday was a short stint in the garden, but I packed a lot of jobs into a short period of time out there. I am cleaning up out there, so I had to be a little ruthless about what I saved and what got pitched (gasp!). Really, it’s okay to pitch things occasionally such as all those little sedum leaves that broke off when I dropped a plant many months back. I’ve been saving them, checking occasionally to see if roots or tiny buds are forming. Some look promising so I planted them in six-packs for planting projects later on.

Succulents I started in six-pack planters many months ago have grown to a nice size so I consolidated some of them into pots with other established succulents of the same variety, filling them in for a better look.

Time to plant more seeds so I laid out plastic six-packs filled with seed starting potting mix. I’m still seeding spinach, lettuce, arugula, and snow peas. Last week I started up more sunflowers, cilantro and basil. While the seeds are getting started, I’ve been cleaning up the garden, trimming out old sweet peas vines, cutting lots of little bouquets of sweet peas and nasturtiums, and weeding, weeding, weeding!

I checked on the ‘kids’,and they are thriving, and making castings by the bucketful for me now. Good teamwork, gang. I’m so proud of you. Really! :-)

On the harvesting front, I have been snacking on strawberries, blueberries and a couple of apples. I say snacking because fruit is ripening in onesies and twosies; not a large bounty, but so delicious!

Here’s an article from a couple of weeks ago from the SD Union Tribune, Sowing Success to finish things off.

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Yea! It’s raining!

December 7, 2009

Last week we had a little spritz that left me feeling disappointed for my plants, but it was the first measurable rainfall we had seen in 164 days so I was trying to be thankful for the little we did get. Last Friday when there was serious talk of storms coming, I got into gear and figured out what I needed to get done to maximize the rain when it finally arrived. Mi esposo dug out a Cecile Brunner rose I decided was in the wrong place, and interfering with my wisteria, and I replaced it with a recently purchased Campbell’s gardenia. I planted the blueberry bushes (SharpBlue Early Season and O’Neal – both have low chill requirements) I had purchased a couple of weeks ago into two pots I found at Walter Andersen’s last week. I repotted some plants; threw away some straggler plants that just weren’t performing; planted the last of the bulbs I had bought last month; prepped some more potato bins; raked, fed and watered; and generally, just organized and swept. A productive Sunday, for sure. Now the rain is falling and I’ll let that do its magic for awhile. Nice…..

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Blueberries

November 10, 2009

Delicious, nutritious, and high in bioflavanoids. Music to our ears! Too bad chocolate doesn’t rate these accolades.

Gardeners in Southern California can grow blueberries. I didn’t know this until last year when I saw the last of the bare root selection at a local nursery. It took every ounce of will power not to buy on the spot, but not knowing anything about these plants, I resisted so I could learn more. The trick is to choose one of the Southern Highbush varieties. These require fewer chill hours than the Northern Highbush which require over 1000 hours. You have to grow at least two different varieties for cross—pollination and fruiting (any two varieties will do, regardless of ripening time). Grow in acidic, well—drained soil. Cottonseed meal is an excellent fertilizer for blueberries, peat moss is good for drainage, and of course, good compost.

According to the folks at Walter Andersen Nursery, blueberries are:

***Not a bog plant, need GOOD drainage
***Need acidic conditions (cottonseed meal) , plant with peat and even orchid bark for good drainage.
***Nitrogen – must be dispensed in sulfate form (organic) NOT in nitrate form (non-organic and FATAL)
***If you really like blueberries, 2 plants are a tease, 6 plants will yield a good crop.
***Do well in pots.

Here are some (but not all) varieties you’ll want to look for:
Misty - Southern highbush, early season
Zones 5-10 One of the most popular varieties in California because of fast growth, high yields, consistent quality. Medium to large fruit with mild, sweet flavor. Vigorous, recommended for areas of hot summers and mild winters; tolerates as little as 150 chill hours. (No.1 size bare-root)

Sharpblue - Southern highbush, early season. Zones 7-10. Most adaptable and popular variety for low chill areas throughout the world. Stalky, vigorous bush grows to over 6�. In milder zones, it will bloom and fruit almost year-round and bush will remain evergreen. Berries are dark blue, about the size of a dime, with excellent flavor and textre. Recommended in areas with mild winters where hard frosts are uncommon. 300-500 chill hours.

O’Neal - Southern highbush, very early season.
Zones 5-9 One of the very best flavored berries with consistent quality throughout harvest. In most climates, it is the first variety to ripen. Medium blue fruit, medium size, very sweet on erect bush that is slightly spreading. Can be a little slower to establish but easy to manage to maturity. 400 chill hours. (No.1 size bare-root)

Jubilee – Southern highbush, midseason.
Zones 5-9 Developed in Mississippi, a tough, consistent producer of very high quality fruit even in heavy soils and very hot summers. Very light blue, medium sized berries with good flavor. Excellent color and good shelf life. Upright, vigorous and consistently productive bush. Condensed, 2-week harvest; fruit borne on outer periphery so easy to pick. 500-700 chill hours. (No.1 size bare-root)

Bare-root plants will ship in January. Buying bare-root is advantageous because the plants cost less, are less expensive to ship, and they arrive at the best time to plant – during their dormant season.

Unfortunately, I’m impatient and want results now! It will be at least 2 years, and probably three, to see any kind of substantial crop from bare-root so spending more up front for a 5-gallon plantmight make sense just to move the process along. You get more mature bushes and harvesting will be in months rather than years. Now we’re talking!

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