Blueberry

How to grow blueberries

• While tolerant of shade, blueberries crop better in the sun.
• Cover plants with netting when in fruit, otherwise you'll end up feeding the birds!
• Pick over the plants several times as not all the fruit ripens at the same time.
• Fruits can be left on the bush for a few more days after they turn blue for a more intense and complex flavour, when they'll also easily pull away from the cluster.
• Although self-fertile and able to produce a good crop on their own, blueberries yield much more heavily if planted near another one.
• Plant in well-drained, acidic soil in a sunny, sheltered spot.
• If your garden soil has a pH over 5.5, your blueberry is best grown in a pot, in ericaceous soil. Keep it well-watered - don’t allow the soil to dry out.
• Water blueberries with rainwater if you can as tap water will gradually raise pH levels.
• Feed every month with a liquid fertiliser for ericaceous (lime-hating) plants.
• If growing blueberries in the garden, add plenty of organic matter such as pine needles or composted conifer clippings. Avoid farmyard manure as it will scorch the roots.
• Pruning is rarely needed in the first two years. After that prune in late Feb – early Mar, aiming to remove a proportion of old wood every year. Two year-old wood is the most productive.
• Take out any damaged, dead, and diseased wood and prune out low branches that will lie on the ground when full of fruit.