Part 0800.0005

[Cinnamon]

After doing a garden assessment yesterday,I find that I have lots of nice big pots that need planting up,& remembered that Blueberries grow well in this climate.

 

Does anyone on here grow them,& if so do you have any tips on the best variety for me to look out for?

[Christian]

I grow them in the ground, but they do very well in pots if you water them well. They need acid soil, so get a big bag of ericaceous (sp) soil from the garden centre and pot them up.

 

I have a variety called Top Hat and it produces a fair amount of fruit. The one thing to watch out for is birds Just as they start ripening, the birds like to pinch them I now net the blueberry plant when the fruit start forming.

 

Lovely red leaves in the Autumn

[Cinnamon]

Super,thank you.

Its the Henley farmers market today & there is a fruit & veg plant man there - I got Blackcurrants from him last year,so I will see if he has any.

I have a trio of gorgeous colbalt blue pots in different shapes just by the chicken shed,so I think these will look a treat in them

[Toots]

I have 1 plant in a pot... no idea the variety but it did produce a very good crop... i only ate 2 of the berries as Christian said birds do like them... especially chickens!!!

[C&T]

I have 3 which do well in pots, in ericacious (sp) compost. They have chicken poo as well when they are really lucky!

 

I have 3 different plants though, that crop in different months - July, August and September. This way I get blueberries for 3 months, rather than just one. I love popping out in the morning and picking a few to put onto my weetabix for breaky! (when not eating eggs of course!)

 

Garden centres often do this trio pack - around here anyway - and was worth it in my view. I don't know the names of the plants - the garden centre labels went missing a long time ago...

[Christian]

Mine are in a metre by a metre bed, with cranberries in the corners. I put dried confer leaves (if they are leaves)? as a top dressing on every year, and top up the bed with more acidic compost. The plant was tiny when I bought it (3 years ago)? just a cheapy one from Lidl. It is now over a metre tall and doing very well.

 

It is best to get a couple as that helps pollination, but most are self fertile now. Only ever had the one and it does ok. Might need to prune it a bit this year, but need to look up how/when.

[chickencam]

They do need plenty of water when in posts, I had two in alrge pots by the front door, but lost them over the winter a couple of years back. I think they are more frost sensitive in pots too. I don't really like bluberries that much and have loads of other soft fruit so I didn't bother to replace them.

[Cinnamon]

Interesting about the conifer compost.We have a 1 tonne builders bag full of it,from years & years of shredded Christmas trees (Hubby loves his shredder!)

 

I fancy 'Bluecrop' & think I have found 3 for £15 online,which seems a good deal to me

[Christian]

Blue crop was the one I meant, I knew Top hat wasn't right!

 

I was told that conifers were acidic, so just add a top dressing around the blueberry and cranberry plants.

[docsquid]

I got three blueberries as a special offer last year - can't remember if it was via one of the plant catalogues or as a Gardeners' World subscriber. I planted them in ericaceous compost and they grew well last year. We already have some flowers on them this year. They are fenced off from the chickens though!

 

It will be interesting to see how big they manage to grow - they need to bush out a bit, but then I think I only paid £1.99 for the whole lot.

[Daphne]

I'd agree with everything; they're great looking with blossom and red leaves in autumn but they do definitely need TLC in pots; we lost 2 out of 3 of ours but probably due to my famous inattention in the watering department rather than the cold (and do water them with rainwater). The other thing is I strongly agree they are a bird magnet. OH and I accused each other of eating them ....and it was only when we both denied it that we realised it was the birds (wild not chicken variety)