I’m sure your garden and family would benefit from the generous bounty of any fruit trees that will grow in your area. Some large fruit trees are rather finicky, high maintenance, or require special growing requirements, so you must be aware of your growing zone and soil make-up in order to experience success. In spite of these hurdles, there are still many berries and fruits that are fairly easy to grow no matter where you live, and you can purchase different varieties that will keep you picking from early spring until frost. Some berries are categorized as everbearing. This means they fruit all season as long as conditions are favorable. Depending upon your growing zone, you may be interested in early, mid or late season varieties. Gardeners with a short growing season would most benefit from earlier season varieties, while those with longer grower seasons, like the southeastern United States, could plant any combination of the three as well as everbearing to stretch production as long as possible. Blueberries Southern highbush and Northern highbush can both grow in the southeastern United States; however, rabbiteye varieties grow best. The southeastern states get pretty hot during the summer months. Rabbiteyes are most tolerant of the southern heat, and there are many native varieties that grow wild. Some of our favorite purchased varieties are Powder Blue and Climax. We’ve also grown Tifblue, Woodard, Pink Lemonade and Blue Belle. While most of these bushes will fruit without a pollinator, it is best to grow at least two compatible varieties to encourage larger berries. The chart below shows fruiting seasons to help you determine which varieties may best support your gardening needs. Maintenance: Blueberries prefer acidic soil with pH 4.3 to 5.50. To maintain that acidity, we use a fertilizer for rhododendrons and hydrangeas in early spring just as the buds begin to swell and mid-summer. Keep the bushes mulched well with an organic material such as wood chips, pine straw or leaves to keep the ground moist around the trees. Blueberries require a LOT of water, especially in the heat of summer and if you are growing them in pots. Speaking of pots, they grow well in containers for those who have limited space. However, you will need to work a little harder to maintain the proper growing conditions. Raspberries Raspberries take at least a year to get established. They will then produce and multiply like crazy. I never thought we could grow raspberries in our southern heat; they are such a delicate fruit. However, we happened upon two thornless varieties that adapt well to our climate: Canby and Glencoe. We harvested Canby during the summer months, but most of them never made it indoors. Like many other small fruits and brambles, raspberries can be biennial, producing a summer crop on a second-year cane or everbearing. On everbearing plants, the first-year canes produce a fall crop, then they fruit in the spring on the second-year canes. The spent canes should be removed after fruiting to make way for new canes to emerge. This allows growers to harvest a spring crop and a fall crop in the same year. Fall Gold and Heritage are varieties that produce two crops over the year. Maintenance: Raspberries should be trellised to provide the best access to the fruit. Besides potentially dropping delicate fruits as you harvest them, you do not want your legs to brush against these sprawling barbed vines. It is not a great feeling, and we’ve been slowly replacing our thorny varieties with thornless for that very reason. Our smallest farmhand loves raspberries, and I would hate for those vines to snag her. Most varieties are fine to mix; however, if you grow a black raspberry, you should keep it about 100 feet away from the other raspberries as well as blackberries. If your plants are not everbearing, cut fruited canes to the ground once they are done. This will allow the plant to put its energy into producing healthy new canes for the next year. You may wish to cover the bed with fresh compost in the spring to encourage vigorous growth. Raspberries multiply by sending out runners underground. In just three years, our small, neglected raspberry patch grew from three plants to more than 15! So, if you find the right plant for your zone, you’re in for a treat and soon will have plenty to share. Blackberries Wild blackberries can be somewhat of a nuisance in your garden if you hadn’t planned for them. We are always pulling them up, even transplanting to other parts of the property where we don’t mind if they would continue their growth. Yet they die back each time. Although I have fond memories of getting up early with my family to go out and pick wild blackberries when I was younger, it is rare to find an undisturbed patch along roadsides now, and I don’t miss the scars from climbing over and through briars. Luckily ,there are many thornless varieties that can be grown right in your backyard. Some of our favorites are PrimeArk 45 and Ouchita. We also have Navajo and Arapaho that have been slow to establish themselves due to our own neglect, not the plant or variety. Maintenance: All of these blackberries are pleasant, but the benefit of PrimeArk is that it fruits on both 1st-year and 2nd-year canes. In terms of maintenance, the fruited canes should be removed at the end of the growing season to encourage new growth which will result in next year’s fruit. However, this is not true for PrimeArk. The current year’s fruited canes are left intact for a late spring harvest. Be careful to cover the vines if there is a late frost warning. It will damage the blooms resulting in the possibility of losing that first crop. If you are in a wooded area where wild blackberries are prolific, you want to ensure they are not growing close to cultivated varieties as they are said to contaminate them. We have not experienced this problem. There are many other berries and small fruits that can fill your backyard or garden with tasty treats to tickle your palate all year long. If you have a greenhouse, large garage or basement, you can even widen the range of what you grow by offering your plants winter protection. So, now it’s time to do a little research and begin to add the berries that you believe your family will love. ~Happy Gardening! The varieties listed are best suited for southern climates. Learn about small fruits you can grow in your climate or growing zone by accessing your local county extension. My go-to here in South Carolina is Clemson Extension. However, I occasionally look at content from bordering states, North Carolina Extension and University of Georgia Extension.
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AuthorI'm a wife, mother, daughter, educator, writer and hobby farmer. Welcome to my world of simply living. Archives
December 2023
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