Blueberries are a natural superfood that is becoming very common in New Zealand gardens.
Blueberries. Who doesn’t love those small purplish-blue berries that are so easy to grow – and so good for you?
A handful contains 80 calories, and provides 25% of your recommended daily allowance of vitamin C and a substantial amount of vitamin K (36%) and manganese (25%).
Vitamin K, while hard to find in nature, is required to help your blood to clot. Manganese, found in fruit and vegetables with dark-coloured skins, helps prevent osteoporosis and joint inflammation.
It’s especially good for women and the elderly. For diabetics, its low glycaemic index makes it an ideal fruit when looking for a natural low sugar ingredient.
Blueberries aren’t a high maintenance plant, but they do need to have rich, well drained, slightly acidic soil with a healthy dose of fertiliser and be planted in full sun.
This can be as simple as your own compost with added sheep pellets. You don’t want to let the soil dry out or conversely, have saturated root systems.
Many do like a chilling time in the winter months, which is why they usually do well here – I’ve been growing several varieties in big tubs for a few years now with good success. But if your climate has fewer frosts, the are several species that have been grown to require a lower chill factor.
Most varieties of this North American native that has been appreciated as a food and medicinal source for more than 13,000 years will grow between a metre to a metre and a half in height, although some will grow to three metres.
The latter aren’t often found in our nurseries though.
It does pay to have several varieties, they need to cross-pollinate to produce good crops.
As mentioned above feeding is a necessity to get a good crop and I generally use a citrus granule feed on a regular basis.
Winter is a good time to prune off dead or diseased branches, or to trim the tree into shape.
Blueberries do fruit on the previous season’s wood, so be careful not to remove too much of this.
And finally – you will have to net your fruit because the birds will be in first if you don’t. They are prolific fruiters if treated well, with an unusually long season as far as berries go from October through to April. Bumblebees love the pink and white flowers.
It’s always a good idea to take the berries as soon as they ripen, which allows for more to come through. They freeze easily and keep their shape, so have a glut of them means you’ll have enough to last you through the year.
