A Clear Blueberry Sky

I must admit, I was very daunted by the prospect of blueberries (vaccinium cyanococcus), as people complained all over the internet about issues afflicting them and the difficulty in their care. But my hoarding instinct got the better of me and whenever a blueberry bush caught my eye, I would snatch it up and ferret it home, until I had a veritable patch of them, all shapes and sizes and varieties.

Blueberries need a pollinator in order to grow large, beautiful fruit (they can self pollinate, but the fruits would be less and smaller) so I bought so many different kinds that I started losing track of them. I know I have tophats and highbushes, and my personal favorite: Pink Lemonade. I love the pink lemonade one because birds and other animals leave the fruits alone, thinking they’re not ripe yet, and I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but I find that particular variation sweeter. In the fall, the foliage turns a brilliant, flaming show of yellows and oranges and reds, providing an excellent fall landscape color (which is how I tricked my husband into getting three for our front yard.)

If you choose to plant more than one blueberry bush, be sure to pick those that flower around the same time so they can pollinate each other.

They require full sun to really ripen the berries, although I hear they can do okay in part shade as well (but I haven’t tried.) They’re quite attractive bushes, and seeing the berries clustered on their branches always make my heart do a little dance.

The main reason why they are reportedly difficult is that they require extremely acidic soil, around a pH of 4.8 to 6–it might be due to the fact that the natural habitat may have poor soil, as acidity is required for the roots in nutrient uptake. This means that they can be difficult to layer with other plants because those plants have to be able to tolerate that range as well. If the soil is too alkaline, the plant won’t set fruit, and the leaves will look quite sad. Some people like to use commercial fertilizers, but I’m of the opinion natural is best–especially since if the soil’s composition itself is not good, no matter how much liquid fertilizer you give it, it will not become self sustainable. Therefore I mulch with a layer of peat moss and compost to give my sandy soil organic matter, which also increases the acidity, as well as retains moisture (I have my sprinklers set for once every 3 days for a long and deep watering). Given that I have consistently gotten fruit from my bushes, I would imagine that this approach is a rather good one for this particular berry bush. They are winter hardy to USDA zone 4, and grow best if it goes no hotter than zone 7–so Long Island is perfect for them. Indeed, we have many, many Pick Your Own style blueberry farms out in eastern Suffolk County and they always have lots of fruit.

I’m really glad I had stepped out of my comfort zone and confronted this challenge of growing blueberries, which wasn’t so challenging once you knew what to do. My almost 4 year old daughter is very glad for it, especially as she picks the ripe, juicy berries and pops them in her mouth!