Growing Blueberries for Fun or Profit

By Barbara Adams

Article Word Count: 489

Blueberries are well known for fresh eating, pies, jams, jellies, syrups, juice, and baked goods such as blueberry muffins, pancakes and waffles. But, they are also baked into squash dishes and coffee cakes. Backyard growers and small farms prosper by offering blueberries as a u-pick crop, and by creating one-of-a-kind value-added blueberry products such as pancake mixes, or blueberry flavored organic yogurt and ice cream. For home use, fresh blueberries freeze well unwashed, dry and unsweetened. People love the way they don’t stick to each other after being frozen like other berries, and pour out of their freezer containers like frosty marbles. My children loved to freeze blueberries in small individual freezer bags, then grab a bag throughout the coming months to snack on.


It is said that in blueberry season, bears will eat nothing else except ripe blueberries, and that they will travel up to fifteen miles per day on an empty stomach to find a blueberry patch. Both bears and birds have long loved the blueberry, leading one small blueberry farm in Southampton, Massachusetts to name itself “Bird Haven Blueberry Farm.” They protect their berries from the birds, and successfully sell blueberries as U-pick, fresh-picked, frozen, and in jellies, jams and pies.


Because blueberries grow from the south to the north, most locations can find varieties that suit their home garden or farm. It is recommended that at least two varieties, regardless of ripening time, are grown for cross-pollination and better fruit production. Yet, there are also a few reports of single species producing well. Today, home gardeners and small farmers can purchase highbush varieties developed from the commercial industry selected for large size, ease of picking and productivity. Older varieties, however, can also be found. “Rubel” is believed to be one of the first wild blueberries selected from the wild for commercial breeding, and can still be purchased and grown. It is reportedly higher in anti-oxidants than other commercial blueberries. The European bilberry and even wild huckleberries can also be purchased for growing in gardens. While the plant varieties vary greatly in size, the average gardener can expect from five to 15 pounds of berries each growing season.


The bushes require loose, acid soil suggested from pH 4.0 to 5.5, as would be found in their native woodland edge and meadow dwellings. The soil needs to have constant gentle moisture, never too soggy and wet during the growing season, and not allowed to dry out, especially their first year. Their roots are very shallow, so cultivation should be gentle. Some species offer fiery red or orange foliage in the fall, with lovely bark color in winter. There are also evergreen varieties and dwarf varieties. They can live up to 60 years, so choose the location wisely. And don’t forget to put up a “No Bears” sign.

(c) 2006 Barbara Adams

Barbara Adams Author: Micro Eco-Farming: Prospering from Backyard to Small Acreage in Partnership with the Earth (New World Publishing) http://www.MicroEcoFarming.com

Time for a Flower Garden Tune-Up

By Yvonne Cunnington

Article Word Count: 407

Creating a lush flower garden from scratch takes time - many perennial plants need a couple of years to grow to showy sizes. So don't worry if it takes several seasons to get your flower garden looking the way you'd want it to. That's perfectly normal.

This is a good time of year to take stock of your garden design. Ask yourself the following questions - the answers should give you some ideas on which projects to do this spring:

Are the flower beds too narrow? A narrow bed isn't wide enough to show off layers of plants. If you have a skinny bed that can't be widened, between a hedge and a walkway, for instance, fill it with low-growing ground cover plants of one or two kinds.

Are the planting areas all over the place? Look at the entire yard, not just the individual planting beds. Try to link beds, rather than having one here and another over there.

Have you crammed in too many types of plants? You'll get more impact from perennials if you put three of one type in a clump, rather than three different plants or three of the same plant in different locations. Repetition of key plant groups or a key color creates harmony and coherence. Add contrasts in texture and form - for example, bigger leaves next to fine ones, or spiky flowers next to rounded and mounded ones.

Have you screened eyesores? Treat the space around your house as a garden, not a yard. Your backdrop should complement your plants. Make storage sheds or garage walls into garden features (vine-covered trellises can hide ugly ones). Be sure to screen utilitarian necessities like the compost pile, air-conditioning units, heat pumps, and so on with attractive fences or evergreen shrubs.

Do the garden and house complement each other? Look out the windows to make sure the picture is pleasing from inside the house too.

Do you have a focal point? You could be asking plants to do all the work. Perhaps the missing element is what garden designers call a "focal point." Try adding a bird bath, a sundial, an arbor, or a trellis. And of course no garden is complete without an inviting bench, or two.

Growing Tomatoes – A Hobby for Everyone

By Paul Cris

Article Word Count: 265

It is really a wonderful activity to grow tomatoes around your house. You can retain the tomato on the plant itself till it turns fully ripe. But when you are buying them from the stores or in the market you have to sometimes pick up the raw ones. The ripe ones are not always available.

The following is the procedure of growing tomatoes around your house.

Select a pot that will allow the excessive water to drain away. Then fill the pot with compost. Add about an inch of seeds into it. To allow the seeds to germinate, layer the pot with a plastic cover. Then remove it later and pour water into it till it penetrates the bottom. After a few days you will see a small growth. Keep the pot under the sunlight so that it grows rapidly.

When you observe a proper growth, shift the plant to a new pot. Possibly plant it besides a shrub or near a tree so that it is protected from the strong wind. Provide the essential nutrients for the normal growth. Use fertilizers almost after every month and water them at least twice a day.

Wait for about 4-6 weeks to let the tomatoes grow in full shape. If the temperature falls to 50 degrees Fahrenheit then cover it up.

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