"Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are true super foods. Naturally sweet and juicy, these berries are low in sugar and high in nutrients--"they are among the best foods you can eat," exulted Joel Fuhrman. We take our second look at a bush fruit for the modern garden: blueberries
Are blueberries worth some extra preparation? You decide. For unless your garden soil is on the acid side, with good moisture retention, work is involved. Blueberries,
Vaccinium spp., are very shallow-rooted shrubs, requiring acidic, moist soils.
Two forms are familiar: high bush and low bush. The latter yield the smaller, wild blueberries. Fats Domino may have warbled "I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill," but in fact wild, prostrate blueberries spread over often vast 'flats' often managed harvested by First Nations. Incidentally, because of this management, being labelled 'wild' does not assure pesticide-free.
Cultivated forms are of the high bush selections; in northern regions often of
Vaccinium corymbosum. As with but a few other bush fruit, blueberries require cross-pollination. In other words two different kinds must be grown, hence garden centres often only offer multiples for sale. Leave it for bees to do the rest.
"You'll never regret eating blueberries or working up a sweat" according to Jacquelyn Mitchard. But you had better be prepared to perspire in making a suitable bed for the bushes. Raised beds a foot deep, filled with a blend of commercial 'triple mix' soil and sphagnum peat moss, must be built in a sunny area. The addition of drip irrigation will assure such beds remain moist.
Be prepared to wait a few seasons for the full, heavy cropping. Blueberry bushes are slow growing, equally slow to mature. Meanwhile mulch at least annually with peat, pine needles, oak leaves or a blend of all three. This will both maintain acidity and moisture.
Commercial growers often discourage ornithological invasions on ripening fruit with blasts from noisy repelling devices. Home gardeners can utilize the same netting used to protect other bush fruits from feathered free-loaders.
After going to all this trouble, it may be discouraging to learn that wild bees, rather than honeybees, do a better job of producing blueberries. According to a recent study was published in the journal
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, research demonstrated that wild bees are essential to producing larger and better blueberry yields--with plumper, faster-ripening berries. Commercial farms may benefit by this but urban gardeners are unlikely to encounter an abundance of wild, native bees.
