Selfsufficientish.com

A quick post to express my excitment at the cranberry plants I reserved today. We had vague plans for some fruit bushes along our fence and were hoping to get some in soon, so when I saw them today they were a must!

Probably blokie will be less excited as he hates them, but I love them, altho I might push my love of them to the extreme if I have to eat them all myself

Clarabel

I wish we could grow cranbrries: our soil is not nearly acid enough.

Let us know how you get on.

Nice one Clarabel

I doubt you'll get fed up of them.. .they have many uses

Didn't even know they grow around here - wouldn't mind trying that myself. Acid soil? No problem!

And wet feet, they hate drying out. My catalogue also sells Lingonberries, so now I don't know what to do - blueberries, cranberries, or lingonberries! Any ideas? I'll go and ask the swedes too...

which catalogue did you get the cranberries from, please?

Dobies do blueberries, lingonberries and "sea buckthorn" which they reckon tastes similar to cranberries.

thanks, I will ring Dobies as I want blueberries as well

I want to grow blueberries too.... think it will go on my list for next year.

Maybe there will be some in the end of season sales at the garden centres - what are people's thoughts on buying these end of season plants... waste of time or worth a go?

I managed to pick up a blueberry plant this spring for £3.49. I always scour the sale bit just on the offchance they might have something. I've no idea when they normally have end of line stuff though, is there a specific time like Autumn??

Anyway, back to the blueberry. It's coming along really well, probably get a handful of berries this year. It might have been more but it needed repotting and I didn't do it till just recently and I think most of the flowers/fruits fell off. Looking forward to them when they finally are ready though and will def be buying another plant I think.

Anyone know how many bushes would be sufficient for a family??

Blueberries are slow to come into full bearing, say six years. Once they get there a soil-grown bush in good conditions should yield between 2.5 and 3.5kg (6-8lb), and should bear for around 20 years.

Bearing in mind their longevity, I'd hesitate to buy any specimen that isn't in good condition, so I'd be suspicious of end-of-season plants. Not averse, just suspicious!

thanks Hedgie

As we've got good blueberry growing conditions I think I'll hold out for a good one rather than taking on a straggler at the end of the season... that's a pretty good payback anyway isn't it.

Kirsty - is yours in a pot then?? I was thinking of planting a couple in the ground.

I'm going for a big half-barrel full of ericaceous compost and just one plant. Wish me luck!

hedgewizard wrote:I'm going for a big half-barrel full of ericaceous compost and just one plant. Wish me luck!

I thought you were describing your new avatar for a moment.

Shirlz2005 wrote:thanks Hedgie

Kirsty - is yours in a pot then?? I was thinking of planting a couple in the ground.

yes it is. Tbh the ground here may be acidic enough. I've no idea really! must actually do a ph test! But then we do rent this place and I would want to take it with me anyway if and when we leave so I imagine I'll leave it as it is.

Kirsty