April 7 Column: How to Grow Blueberries

Oh, how I love blueberries! They are so simple to grow and provide us with plenty of berries for eating fresh, supplementing our morning yogurt or oatmeal, adding to baked goodies, and even for making something as fancy as a blueberry-balsamic reduction for salmon (one of Bill’s specialties). So it makes sense that this week’s column is all about how to grow blueberries. Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Blueberries provide a delicious harvest, plus beauty in the landscape.

In the column, I mentioned one of the most important aspects of growing these lovely fruits: providing the plants with acidic soil. If you are planning to put in a blueberry bed this year, it’s a really good idea to either have your soil tested by a certified lab or to pick up a simple soil test from your local garden center to see what your soil’s pH is. Blueberries do best in the 4.5 to 5.5 pH range.

I also wanted to emphasize just how beautiful these plants look in the landscape. I love the flowers (which look like half of a pair of bloomers to me — see photo to right) and am thrill to see the beautiful fall colors of the leaves. I mean, how can you go wrong when planting a productive plant that also is a stunner in the garden?

In keeping with this week’s blueberry theme, I decided it would be helpful to have the topic for my next “Everyone Can Grow a Garden” video be about pruning blueberries: