How to Plant Blueberries

Blueberry Bush

If you want to grow blueberry bushes on your property you will need to find out the pH level of your soil. Blueberries require a slightly acidic soil with a pH of 4 to 4.5. If your soil is too alkaline you can purchase products from garden centres to make your soil more acidic. Blueberries need moist soil and one way to achieve that is to add a lot of sphagnum peat moss into the soil around your plants. You could also add a layer of mulch on top of the soil. The plants will require full sun to produce a lot of berries

If growing blueberries from seed it will take about three years until the plants produce a crop of berries. If you were to buy a blueberry bush you are not able to get berries the first year and the second year's crop may not be that great. Although three years may seem like a long time to benefit from growing from seed the benefits are that the plants tend to be more hardy for your area and it is a lot cheaper. To germinate blueberry seeds you can surface sow them onto a 2-3"" layer of sphagnum peat moss and lightly cover them with more peat. The seeds require some light to germinate. Keep the seeds moist but not soggy and never let them dry out. The temperature should be around 70-80 F (20 C). Germination will take around 4-8 weeks.

There are two major types of blueberry plants which are highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) and lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) also known as "wild blueberries". High blueberries produce a lot more blueberries and they take up a lot less space. All varieties tend to share the same amount of health benefits, but it's always the latest researched variety that is touted as the best.

To produce a large blueberry and an abundant crop you will need to have several varieties of blueberry bushes. Cross pollination will ensure a great tasting and large berry. Blueberries require a dormant season where temperatures fall to below freezing or near freezing to thrive the next season. The seeds also benefit from being stratified (kept in freezing temperatures for a couple weeks), it increases the germination success significantly.

You can buy mixed highbush blueberry seeds from this link.

Wild Strawberry Plants

Wild Strawberries

Wild Strawberry Plants not only have the best strawberry flavour, but they are very easy to grow. The common larger strawberries are called "Garden Strawberries" which are a hybrid species, and while they taste good they are not as easy to keep healthy nor do they have as strong a flavour as the wild variety does. Also, the wild varieties are much more fragrant.

You might be able to find wild plants somewhere but it is a lot easier to buy the seeds online and just grow them yourself. It's very easy to start them from seeds. If growing indoors you can surface sow the seeds onto some most soil/peat mixture. In two to three weeks the seeds will start to sprout. If you start them outdoors make sure it is in the cooler months, such as late summer or from the spring to early summer. They take a lot longer to germinate if the weather is too hot. 

If your strawberry seeds are started in the spring then you will have berries that year before the fall. Wild strawberries continue to produce berries until the first frost hits. The second year you will get a lot more berries. Birds and other animals love these berries so building some sort of screen or netting around them might be necessary.

You can buy wild strawberry seeds (woodland), and alpine strawberry seeds from these links. Alpine strawberries are also found in the wild and as the name suggests they can tolerate colder winters. They tend to produce more berries than the woodland variety. I have both varieties and I'm not sure which one I prefer over the other, since they are both great. Also, both varieties seem to be very disease resistant and also drought resistant. I use to grow garden strawberries and they were also getting leaf rust and being attacked by pests, but the wild varieties do much better. I live in Canada and the plants do well here. They will do fine as long as your climate experiences below zero or near zero temperature in the winter months. The plants need a dormant period at least for a few weeks in order to thrive.

Buying Seeds Online

Garden Tomatoes

Buying seeds online these days is very easy. You can find almost any type of seeds you are looking for. Garden centres don't carry every type of seed. They usually just carry your basic varieties for common herbs and vegetables, and some fruits.

Growing fast growing herbs or vegteables from seed is more ideal because the plants will be more hardy for your location. It's better to buy things, such as tomato or pepper plants when you have a shorter growing season, or if you want a hybrid plant such as peppmint. That also bothers me when I see "peppermint seeds" for sale in retail stores or online. Because it's a hybrid plant you are most likely to get less than ideal "peppermint" plants that don't taste so great.

Shipping costs are not too bad if you purchase domestically or from nearby countries. Usually a bubble mailer envelope is more than enough protection for the seeds. I find it more convenient and often cheaper to buy online than to search around locally.

If you live in the USA www.amazon.com can be a nice place to find seeds. You can also check out this site www.seed-bank.ca.

If you know of any other good sources or websites to purchase seeds, comment below.