Crazy for Berries

Reader Contribution by Micki Brown
Published on May 27, 2015
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I have evidently gone crazy for berries. Every spring I have been adding more edibles to my landscape and garden, and the past couple of years the focus has been berries – blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, kiwi berries, goji berries, and honeyberries. If I have to pay a water bill to maintain my landscape, it may as well be for edibles so I can reduce my grocery bill – plus the food is organic and as fresh as it gets.

Blueberries

I started with blueberries planted in containers several years ago. The reason for containers was that I live in the High Desert region of Southern California and the soil is on the alkaline side of the pH scale. Blueberries really like acidic soil – as low as 4.5. With the containers, it is much easier to manage the soil by starting with a quality organic potting mix and bypassing the native soil all together. I recently moved all of the blueberries into some of my raised beds, which are simply bigger containers, in an effort to reduce some of my water usage during the historic drought that is affecting California. I had veggies planted in the raised beds previously. I reduced the quantity of veggies in order to make space for the berries and other perennials, thus eliminating the containers from needing to be watered.

The original blueberry plants were picked up at Home Depot a few years ago, I do not remember the variety, but they have grown and produced nicely. Last year I bought a couple more plants from OSH (Pink Lemonade and Misty). I also ordered three more (Elizabeth) online. I have to be careful when choosing blueberries to make sure they will grow in the desert’s climate – we are in USDA zone 8b – with the biggest concern being the summer heat, which I have seen as high as 117 F.

The blueberries are relatively easy care – I water them about every three days, fertilize them in early spring and summer, and lightly prune them in late winter or early spring. The fertilizer I usually use is Blueberries Alive, which provides the appropriate nutrients for blueberries and helps maintain the necessary acidity in the soil.

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