Blueberry bushes can be year-round garden pleasures

A blueberry bush will do everything for your garden but pull the weeds.

This plant is a friend in the landscape. It’s not hard to grow, and it doesn’t need a lot of fussing. In summer, its cute little leaves and fruit add appeal to a mixed border. In winter, blueberry’s bare branches fade to lusty oranges, flaming reds and lime greens.

And then there’s the fruit: sweet handfuls for the morning cereal and for the kids to pluck on a summer afternoon. With enough yard space, a gardener could plant varieties with successive fruit maturity dates, in order to have fruit ready from June through October.

It doesn’t surprise me that a berry expert would choose blueberries as his favorite.

Every garden should have a blueberry plant in it, said Todd Murray, a Washington State University Extension agent for King County. He was invited to speak about berries for the home gardener in Everett recently as part of a kitchen garden series put on at the Snohomish County extension office.

Among the facts he shared about blueberries are these:

The plants like good drainage and a site in full sun or partial sun. They’ll survive in a shady site, but won’t produce much fruit. They can handle some standing water during the winter when they’re dormant, but once they wake in the spring, that same standing water kills.

Site preparation before you plant is especially important with blueberries. Blueberries like soil amended with lots of organic matter, and they like the soil acidic. A pH of 4.5 to 5.5 is best, he said.

Much like a rhododendron, the plant has a shallow, super thick root mat. Making sure the planting site is weed free is crucial, because working the soil around the plant later can damage those shallow roots. The weeds can also be fierce competitors for water and nutrients, Murray said.

Avoid watering from above. A drip irrigation system works best, he said.

Mulch around the base of the plant, but don’t completely cover the root crown, which could smother the plant. Wood chips work great, he said. Gardeners were told in the past that using wood chips as mulch would steal nitrogen from the plant. He said they’re finding that’s not necessarily true. Wood chips work fine, as long they aren’t incorporated into the soil, he said.

When it’s time to select a blueberry bush, don’t go cheap, he said. Buy from a reputable grower and choose healthy, pest-free plants. He has seen commercial growers plant in the middle of summer, but spring or fall is the best time.

See my blog online at www.heraldnet.com to get Murray’s suggestions on what varieties to plant and his favorite nursery.

Other classes in the kitchen garden series include maximizing your harvest (May 22), harvesting year-round (June 19) and homegrown tree fruit (Sept. 11). The classes cost $35 each. Call the extension office for more information at 425-338-2400.

Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com.