Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi,

We would like to grow a couple of Blueberry plants. We thought that maybe we could grow them in those 1/2 beer barrels with some cranberries.

I find it impossible to choose which variety to buy. We want them mainly for drying. Can anyone suggest the most suitable variety for us?

Many thanks

Fish

Hi Fish,welcome to the vine, I don't know which is best for drying but would suggest that you get 2 different varieties as though a lot say they are self-fertile they are supposed to give better crops if you have different bushes together. How about 'Bluecrop' & 'Herbert', they're the 2 I've got although they are new & haven't cropped yet they are supposed to be good ones.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Thanks for that. I was interested to note that you should have two different varieties. It's a good job you mentioned it as I would have bought two the same! I had a look on the Dorset Blueberry site. The two you mentioned sound like a good choice! did you get the 2lt ones?

Fish

Welcome Fish
You know, I didn't realie blueberries were good dried. Been trying lots of different dried fruit recently - blackberries, strawberries, mango... I'm more amazed each day!

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

Welcome to the vine Fish.

I bought two blueberry bushes last year (which are both the same variety but I don't know which) and I have loads of blueberries on both bushes. I also had a good crop on both of them last year. Having done a quick Google I don't think there are any particular varieties that are better than others for drying.



http://raisedbed.blogspot.com

I'm very into the idea of food dehydrators. How have yours turned out?

Nice to hear that you get a good crop from them. What size were they when you got them?

Hi Fish, my plants were only tiny ones in 2 or 3in pots as they were free ,which is probably why they haven't cropped yet. As Blueberry (must be an expert with a name like that!) says you can get a good crop with just one variety, I've just read in a few books that you can get a bigger one with 2 different ones but I suppose it mustn't matter, just down to luck & TLC !

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Sorry, I worded that wrongly... I've ben eating them (buying them from heatlth food shops)

I would like to give it a go, Tried chillies last year just out in the sun but it didn't work very well. That was simply me not reading up about it before though and would definately give it another go.

Thinking of sundried tomatoes this year - any advise you can give me?

I would love to dry my own fruit but I'm getting very littl at the mo (I have a very new garden so everything is still establishing itself) and what little I do get doesn't get past my little boy's mouth

But, I did find a plentiful suply of wild blackberries yesterday... and I'd love to give it a go, would you mind posting how to best go about it? I have no equipement expect the sun and a garden table?

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

Well, I just did a quick google and came up with this - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A963461 which seems quite clear.

We are into juicing and last year bought a Green Star juicer. It's great and you can juice just about anything edible from your garden. A good web site for juicers and dehydrators is www.ukjuicers.com

Ooo thanks Fish, I'll save that for when I next go hunting for brambles!

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Shortie

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children; one of these is roots, the other wings" - Hodding Carter

Hi Fish

The blueberry plants were in 4 inch pots when I bought them but they are not very tall - only about a 1.5 feet tall, but they were full of berries. Also from a lot of pictures that I have seen of blueberry bushes they look taller than mine but not as bushy. I just pruned my lightly in the late winter / early spring to keep them neat and they have lots more berries on them again. The key when pruning is to not prune out the fruit buds - they look similar to a growth bud, but more fuller.

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Blueberry


http://raisedbed.blogspot.com

Interested in the pruning aspect of Blueberries as have just purchased one from a garden centre and it's about 4ft tall and looks a bit straggly.

When is the best time to prune and are ther any particular things I should be aware of??

The bush is a "Swamp Blueberry", never heard of it nor can I find it listed in any catalogues, so if anyone has any info on this type would appreciate it. They had loads of them at the GC so they must be getting more popular........

Thanks,
Welshie

Hi Welshie, I've never heard of a 'Swamp' Blueberry either but it sounds interesting. The best time to prune blueberries is around March & they don't usually need pruning until they are 3 or 4 years old but as yours is quite large it may already be this age. I think you're supposed to prune them like blackcurrants & take about a quarter of the stems back to the ground. You can either grow them in a large container in ericaceous compost or in the ground if you have acidic soil.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Hi Welshie. There are a number of threads dealing with growing acid-loving plants in pots/soil/etc. If you do a search for blueberries or cranberries you will find quite a lot of info. I think there are ways to grow them in soil even if yours is not acidic. See piglet's posts (I think he has a number of plants) among others.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

You could try taking a few cuttings off your blueberry now Welshie as it is so tall. cut a few lengths of about 8ins. off & push them into a pot of compost & leave them in a cold frame or somewhere sheltered outdoors & you might get some extra plants for next year.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Dear SueA
Here was I with a query, do I need two blueberries and if so which ones are best and a quick search on the website came up with your answer. This Grapevine is building into quite some encyclopaedia!
All I need to know, I will get ordering
Many thanks
Sue