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Bountiful berries:
Growing Small Fruits
in Small Spaces
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Do you dream of harvesting fresh fruit from your own garden, but find yourself short on space? Small fruits are the answer!
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By growing a variety of the small fruit-bearing plants, you can pick your own backyard berries from June through September. Unlike fruit trees, small fruits usually start bearing for home gardeners the first or second year after planting.
So just what is a "small fruit?"
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It's any perennial plant smaller than a tree that produces edible fruit. In this newsletter, we'll discuss growing and getting the most out of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and seedless grapes.
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All of the fruits we'll highlight today are self-fertile, meaning that you only need one plant to get berries.
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Blueberries start the small fruit season
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Blueberries are ornamental shrubs in their own right, with shiny green leaves and attractive fall color that fits right in with an edible landscape. They're also among the earliest fruits available to home gardeners.
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We currently have the popular Top Hat lowbush blueberry variety in stock, sought after for its small size and self-pollinating ability. A single plant can provide 3-5 pounds of blueberries in a season, fruiting from June-August. At just 2-3' tall and wide, it's possible to grow in a container, provided that you move it to a protected spot over winter.
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Caring for blueberries is easy with a little preparation. To provide the acid soil pH and high level of organic matter that blueberries require, mix in plenty of pine bark mulch when you plant. (You'll find pine bark mulch available at Stone Market.) Mulch the soil around the plants thickly, and provide regular water throughout the growing season. If birds become a problem, the plants are small enough to easily net.
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Primocane Raspberries:
two crops on one plant!
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Raspberries need just 2'x2' of space to grow, especially if you stake them upright, although staking isn't necessary for support.
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We offer primocane raspberry varieties like Caroline and Heritage. A primocane raspberry has the ability to grow fruit on both first year canes and second year canes, producing first in July and again in September. The second crop keeps coming until frost.
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Although raspberries have thorns, their prickles are small, soft, and unlikely to scratch.
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Thornless Blackberries:
fearless & fruitful
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Blackberries are easy to care for, with some drought tolerance. We've selected for thornless, productive blackberry varieties such as Triple Crown, which bears in August.
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They need a bit more elbow room than the other small fruits, but they make up for it with their rugged, carefree nature.
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Backyard Grapes: Seedless Sweetness
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Grape vines are ornamental as well as productive! They look great when trained up a trellis or arbor, with lush leaves to provide summer shade and brilliant color in fall. We currently have Canadice and Reliance, two seedless varieties that bear in late summer.
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Plant now and reap rewards
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Don't let limited space stop you from enjoying a bountiful harvest of fresh, homegrown fruit. These berries are easy to incorporate into compact spaces and existing landscapes, and they're in stock now at Hoerr Nursery! Plant your own small fruits this season, and enjoy the fruits of your labor for years to come.
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Hardy Bucks 2023 ends soon!
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Got Hardy Bucks burning a hole in your pocket? Bring them to Hoerr Nursery before August 15th and spend them on anything in stock at the Garden Center or Stone Market. Come see us today!
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