Monday 4 September 2017

Blueberries


It's been a brilliant year for the Blueberries this year, just as it was last year. 


Being in the Net Tunnel seems to really agree with the three bushes that we have.  The pots were were lifted outside when the flowers first appeared for natural pollination by pollinating insects and then once there were signs of fruit developing moved back in, where they have remained all Summer safe from the  birds and other thieving little critters, and they will stay there through the Winter after a bit of a pruning.


The first few pickings were weighed for posterity but as is so often the way this fell by the wayside as busy days and longs watering sessions made my mind a blur.


But we have ate royally well from the bushes, tubs have been taken to Mum's and we have eaten some straight from the bushes as we have passed by ... well it would be rude not too  ;-)

They are lovely sprinkled onto breakfast cereals to add a pop of summery freshness and even better when added to the cereal bowl straight from the freezer ... when the ice cold pop as the berry explodes in your mouth is absolutely amazing.  They freeze so easily, a quick wash, a good dry and then straight into tubs.  I try and remember to give the tub a good shake an hour or so after putting it in the freezer just to ensure that they remain free-flowing, but I have never had a problem even if I forget to do this.

Our bushes are now about eight or nine years old and have been growing from strength to strength, with a repot and a change of compost last year, but I think I will supplement them with a couple of younger bushes in time for next years picking season to keep a line of continuity going .... just in case.

Sue xx

11 comments:

  1. I'm blue with envy. I love these things.

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  2. Brilliant! Do you grow them in special compost? There is a massive patch of wild blueberries in the forest behind my house and I was really looking forward to picking some, but wild critters of all sorts got to them first! So I'm thinking about planting some in the garden for next year :-)

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    1. Ideally Blueberries need an ericaceous compost, which is slightly more acidic than normal. But when I checked with our local nurseries last year our friend John let me in on the secret that in fact most cheaper multi-purpose composts pretty much fit the bill these days. So that is what I used to repot them. I reckon we have had in total about 5kg of Blueberries from the 3 plants this year, so it obviously worked well. I have also fed them about once every three weeks with normal tomato food. :-)

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  3. Nice crop - a fortune in the supermarket.

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  4. What a harvest! I am envious - I only got to harvest a handful before the cheeky birds got them all, they also got some of my red gooseberries - i will need to put netting over them next year.

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  5. They are so versatile and go well with almost any other fruit and so expensive to buy! I might find a spot in the garden to grow one.

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  6. Wow! what a fantastic haul of blueberries you have grown and you have saved a fortune as they are so expensive to buy.

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  7. Blaeberries as called in Scotland are good for you. Well done for such a magnificent harvest.

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