A Blueberry Orchard in the Garden

A blueberry orchard is a wonderful thing to have in the garden. Having an orchard of blueberries gives you the opportunity to pick them whenever you want them. Fresh blueberries are great for desserts and for making jam, I can almost smell a fresh baked blueberry pie.

For growing blueberry plants you need to have moisture-retentive, acid soil that has a pH level between 5 and 6. They will grow best in a sunny, open area of the garden or they can grow in an area with partial shade. In the northern regions of the United States the wild blueberry bushes should be protected from the cold winds. Blueberry bushes can be grown in containers if alkaline soil is the only thing available. You will need to fill your containers with an acid based or peat based compost without lime added to it.

A good supply of blueberries for the average family is anywhere from 4 to 6 bushes. The berries will usually be ready to pick in mid and late summer; each blueberry plant will produce fruit over a several week period. Blueberries are not a complete self-fertile plant; to ensure that you will have a good yield it is best to plant at least two or more blueberry varieties. Generally speaking you probably will not produce any fruit on your bushes for the first 3 years.

You can plant blueberry plants in the fall or spring when your soil is favorable. You will want to plant your wild blueberries three to four feet apart and at least an inch deeper than they were in the nursery container. You will want to fertilize your blueberries about a month before the start of growth. The best nitrogen source is ammonium sulfate if it is applied alone by using no more than one ounce for each square yard. If your soil is sandy you will want to repeat this again after growth starts. A 10-10-10 fertilizer can be used in place of ammonium sulfate. In the early stages of each summer you will want to mulch the orchard with peat, garden compost, or leaf mold; you also want to protect your plants from the birds with some netting. These are some blueberry plant care ideas you want to use for a healthy blueberry orchard.

Plants sometimes may suffer from chlorosis, which means there is too much lime in your soil. Yellow patches will occur on the leaves, the growth of the plant is very poor, and fruit production is very low. In order to decrease the pH levels dig in some acidic material such as peat moss and add some sulfur to the soil.  

For the first three years of your blueberry plants life you will not need to prune them. After three years you can prune every winter. The fruit will appear on the past year's wood but in order to produce new wood you need to cut up to four oldest shoots from each blueberry bush.

Blueberries are a low calorie fruit that are high in antioxidants which destroy free radicals which lowers precancerous colon lesions and decreases the risk of ovarian cancer. Blueberries are also very rich in other antioxidants such as anthocyanin, B complex, Vitamins C, E, and A, copper, selenium, zinc, and iron. These will enrich your immune system and help prevent infections. Once your immunity system is strong, you will have a better chance of fighting off colds, pox, fevers, and viral and bacterial diseases. Blueberries will also fight against the effects of osteoporosis in women by slowing down bone loss which occurs after menopause.

Blueberries can also be food for our minds by boosting the enzymes that grow new brain nerve cells. Diets that are rich in blueberries can protect our brains from stress and Alzheimer's disease and can also reverse memory loss. Now is the time to think about an orchard in your garden.