Blueberries for Edible Landscape

     Blueberry bushes are one of my favorite edible landscape plants.  If you supply your blueberry bushes with soil pH between 3.5 and 5.5, moisture, direct sun, good drainage, air circulation, and protection from critters, they will supply you with delicate flowers in the spring, sweet fruit in the summer and landscape color in the fall.  

     Blueberries are not self-fertile, so plant two or more cultivars (varieties) that are appropriate for your growing area.  When choosing a place to plant your blueberries choose a sunny, well drained area that either receives adequate water (I planted mine just under a “gutterless” roof overhang), or is close to a water source, because they require watering when there is insufficient rain.  Add compost to the planting hole, mulch thickly with pine needles or shredded bark, and fertilize with an organic fertilizer for acid loving plants (like Holly-tone).  Each spring, apply fish meal, soybean meal, or blood meal under the mulch.

     Try to avoid a problem that has haunted me for years: rabbits eat my plants to the ground each winter.  Because my plants are adjacent to a woodshed, the rabbits found perfect shelter to sneak into the garden area, eat the plants, and then escape undetected.  After years of lost fruit harvests, a fence with chicken wire dug one foot down and three feet high finally solved my problem.  My friends, Mike and Becky Lapp, have grown their blueberries along a fence near an open field for thirty years with no rabbit competition, so perhaps following their more successful lead makes sense. 

     Mike and Becky have also tried many techniques to deter birds from their crop. After years of battling they have reached a point where they share the harvest with the birds rather than try to keep them away.  They watch their plants carefully to ensure that they are able to harvest their supply of blueberries and then allow the birds their share, "Timing is everything."  

     Because you will not be able to enjoy a harvest the first year—you’ll be picking the flowers to encourage plant growth—don’t put off adding blueberry plants to your edible landscape. Once you begin harvesting your blueberries, try these blueberry cornmeal pancakes.