Planting Cold Hardy Blueberries in the Alberta Urban Garden

Tips, Tricks

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I am following up our 5 easy tips to pick number 1 was to plan ahead to make sure you have the best plan for your garden. Number 4 was to cheat ;) I picked up Blueberries which I had not planned on ;) that said they are a great addition to my 2014 Goal of adding more perennials to my garden. Blueberries are a great addition. I have a North Land and a North Country Blueberry. They are both dwarf varieties which don't get larger then 1 meter tall. Although both varieties may need an pollinator however each of them will do well alone. Blueberries prefer a more acidic soil. I am looking for organic ways to do this but I might need to cheat. I am looking for your help. I have planted strawberries in the bed as well. They enjoy acidic soils as well and will make a great understory to blue berries! Some of my favorite childhood memories are of gardening with my parents and brothers. This channel is about low cost organic urban gardening in zone 3. I am by no means an expert gardener however I love to share my experiments and journey garden year round. Please feel free to join the conversation and if you think you might like this channel subscribe. Have a great day! Check us out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/stephenlegaree14 Webpage: www.albertaurbangarden.ca Google +: google.com/+StephenLegaree Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlbertaUrbanGarden Twitter: https://twitter.com/northern1485 Pintrest: http://www.pinterest.com/ABurbanGarden/

Comments

I live in SW Alberta, east of the Rockies and sometime deer have the audacity of jumping into my yard. I want to plant a blueberry with another berry cross (blueberry and saskatoon, I think. Name begins with h) in a place where the deer won't be so bold (haha) and have thought of making a barrier around the bushes from skids and wire mess. Any ideas on this? Where I live is verrry windy too. I've got some established choke cherry bushes which are acting as a wind break. Would this be a good location for the blueberries?

Peat moss

The weather down here in VA near the Atlantic Ocean has been crazy. It has been so unseasonably warm, that one of my 7 blueberry bushes blossomed about 99% of the flower buds. As a result I have lost an entire bush full of blueberries. I could not believe it since the bush needs a certain amount of chill hours and we have not even come close to that yet due to the higher temps. So I am a bit confused as to why it would bloom without the proper amount of chill hours. I guess I will have to wait another year for that one bush to bloom again.

We are trying to add a new verity every yr.

I run my ph at 5.25 to 5.5 for my blueberries. I have to use Sulphur to get it that low.

Thank you Stephen for your advice on planting these BEAUTIES. I will be ordering 3 bushes and plan on planting them in April/May. I look forward to seeing how your bushes survived the winter. Did you tell us how old the potted plants were? I purchased some bird netting since I have a large amount of songbirds that love berries ESPECIALLY my Mockingbirds.

add some ash from a wood fire will set acidity in your blueberries plants

Thank you for the video. I enjoy watching some gardening from here in Alberta, as it is a tough zone for a lot of plants, and I just bought a blueberry plant for my husband for fathers day. I'll try the tips in the comments as well.

Pine needles are a great way to add acidity your garden. You can use them as mulch when they are dry. I am not sure if you have pine trees up in Canada but they are great evergreen. Thanks for showing us your garden and for adding more perennials to your garden.

Trying to add more fruit to my garden - have blackberry and raspberry bush that need some attention,so this is good info for me!

Good info yup the pine needles should do the trick. I like how you are using the space too. I am thinking about putting my strawberries around the outside of my asparagus bed.

I enjoyed all the tips and will incorporate them in my blueberry plans since I am having trouble with mine trying to die. I heard pine needles start losing their acidic value soon after they fall from the tree. Don't drink coffee so will have to start, I need another habit. hahahaha. I enjoy your videos, easy to follow and encouraging.

Saskatoons all the way!!!

Great video bro. I like Aaron's idea of the pine needles :)

Hey Stephen, working Peat Moss into the soil should help keep the ph level down. Peat has a ph of 4.5. In addition, mulching with pine needles also assists in keeping down ph.
I just planted my blueberries this year too but opted for large pots since I didn't have the soil ph pre-lowered and I want going to do it chemically in my organic garden.
I'd be curious to see how your plants do this season. Maybe we can compare notes at the end of the year.

Pine needles my friend, great video, very interesting about the cross pollination, :)

GReat vid Stephen I just planted two blueberry plants this year hoping to get a good yield in years to come and hope yours do well also !

Nice update, Stephen.
Dry Spruce needles are often used here to make the soil more acidic. It`s mixed with the soil, and also used as a mulch.

Best wishes,
Halvor.

Stale coffee is what I've used when I lived in Maine. Just water with any cold, stale coffee that's left over when you drink coffee. No more than once per week should be plenty.

Ray over on the Praxxus55712 channel uses a cooled cup of coffee once in a while to help up the acidity of his plants that like acidic soils. He says that he just lets a cup of coffee cool and then just pours it around the plant like he's watering it.