Dear Friends and Customers of Woodbridge Fruit Trees,

Blueberries are nothing short of amazing. Where we live in Southern Tasmania, blueberries are a must for every home garden. Making a graceful bush, they are ladened year after year by plump sweet berries. But the best feature is that once they're ripe, they just hang on the bush for weeks and weeks without rotting or losing quality. They are superb frozen, and made into icecream later on, thawed to make a drizzle sauce to pour over icecream, or made into pies, pancakes, and muffins. Easily made into jam with other berries like boysenberry, raspberry, strawberry or youngberry. Each year my bushes produce more and more fruit.

Blueberries are really simple to grow - they do best in well drained loam soil that's a little acidic. There are many ways to achieve acid soil, but a simple one is to use pine bark mulch, add iron sulphate, vinegar, peat moss, pine needles, etc.  I plant mine 1m apart so that I get more fruit earlier but as the bushes grow, I will probably remove every second one to prevent overcrowding as they will get to 2m in about 10 years time. I keep mine in my in a walk-in cage - but a similar way to deter birds is to make a hoop structure and throw a bird net over when the fruit are starting to ripen.

Enjoy attractive Autumn colours as the foliage turns yellow, orange and red before falling leaving the bush bare over winter. Minimal pruning is needed, perhaps to stimulate new growth, but when mature, cut out the old canes and refresh with new leaders emerging from the roots. Feed when actively growing in late spring and early summer, and check the pH, keeping the soil at around pH 4-5.

In terms of varieties, Id suggest a mix of 2-3 varieties. Brigitta, Denise, Northland and Blue Rose are all great bearers and taste good. Multiple varieties lengthens the season, but also insulates against seasonal variation - its not uncommon to notice different sizes and flavours from year to year.

I've still got good numbers of Blueberries in stock. For the next two weeks, grab a 20% discount ($16.80 instead of $21) off all blueberries. If you have an existing order, simply make a new order but use the "Add to order" carrier in the checkout to avoid being charged the base shipping fee.

Wishing you happy gardening and planting for the 2024 season,

Nik Magnus
Woodbridge Fruit Trees
 

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