High summer – blueberries and runner beans
GROW IT - EAT IT
Blueberries are an easy-to-grow superfood. The good news for gardeners is they make excellent plants for containers so you can get a reasonable crop whatever the size of your garden.
Blueberries, Vaccinium corybosum, taste delicious whether eaten fresh or cooked. The bushes can be evergreen or deciduous and usually grow to about 1.5m high.
They need light, free-draining acidic soils, with plenty of rich, organic matter if they are to thrive. The soil should have a lower pH of between 4 and 5.5, similar to the requirements of rhododendrons and camellias. It’s possible to lower the pH levels of your soil with sulphur chips or dust. However, they’ll need to be added three weeks before planting to take effect.
Monitor the soil’s pH every few years, because it may be necessary to add acid. If you don’t have suitable soil, simply grow blueberries in a pot containing ericaceous compost, giving the plants a high potash feed (such as tomato feed) occasionally during the growing season.
Plant two different varieties of blueberries to ensure cross- pollination. A single blueberry plant will produce fruit, but the yields will be higher and the fruits bigger if more than one plant is grown.
Plant blueberries in autumn or winter leaving about 1.5m (5ft) gaps between them and mulch with a layer of acidic peat, wood chippings or pine needles. Water in well using rainwater rather than tap water if possible. Tap water contains lime which renders the soil less acidic over time.
Mulch each spring. Chipped up pine tree or pine needles are ideal mulches to place around plants because they’re fairly acidic.
Blueberry fruits, which are borne in clusters, ripen at different times. This could mean having to regularly pick the same bush over the ripening period.
Fruits are ready to pick when they have turned a deep blue. The fruit should easily pull away from the cluster when ripe. However, leave them on the bush for a few more days after they turn blue for a more intense and complex flavour. They must be picked or they’ll drop.
Blueberries produce fruit on branches that were produced the previous year. For the first two or three years of a
Blueberries, nutritious and able to be grown in smaller spaces
blueberry’s life it’s not necessary to prune it much, apart from keeping the plant tidy. After this, blueberries need regular pruning to maintain plant vigour and high quality berry production. Prune them between November and March when the plant is dormant.
When pruning, take out any dead, dying and diseased wood. Locate the oldest canes and remove one or two at the base each year. Remove the old canes that don’t produce much fruit to make way for younger, more productive canes.
Runner beans
Growing runner beans is not only easy and fun, they are decorative and a good addition to any vegetable plot or garden. They also benefit from being an ideal plant for the gardening beginner – producing long succulent pods from late June right through to October.
Portishead Horticultural Society - Flower Show and Country Fayre July 30th 2pm-8pm, July 31st 10am-5.30 GRAND OPENING by Charlotte Uhlenbroek, zoologist, presenter of BBC2’S Chimpanzee Diary.
Exhibits of flowers, fruit & vegetables, over 70 trade & charity stalls, dog show, childrens fun sports, Town Band & Bob Reynolds Jazz Band, fun for all the family and free parking.
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Admission £4.00, under10s free, 10-16 £2.00 Further information on
www.portisheadhorticultural.org.uk or call 01275 848132 Country Gardener
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