Berries are my favourite types of plants to grow in my garden. Fresh berries are one of the most expensive foods to buy at the grocery store. They are also some of the most nutritious for us to eat. This makes them some of the most important plants to grow in gardens, because of the money we can save and the benefits they provide.
If you grow plants native to your region then they will be easy to maintain. The most common berries to grow in my region are:
Raspberries – Everbearing raspberries are easy plants to find at you local nursery. They establish easy and will soon spread in no time. To control their spread you will want to surround them with a barrier around the soil, as they will shoot up new plants each year. In a small area of land you can grow a large crop of berries each year. They require very minimal care. Raspberry leaves can be made into a tea.
Blackberries - Are very similar to raspberries when it comes to growing and maintaing them. The berries provide a lot of health benefits.
Blueberries – To grow blueberries well you will definitely need to have them in acidic soil. The soil needs to be pH of 4 to 4.5. Once they’re established you can get large harvests of blueberries each year. If you are looking for the seeds you can buy them here: blueberry seeds. Blueberry leaves can be made into a tea.
Strawberries – Strawberries are perennial and easy to grow. I prefer to grow wild strawberries rather than the common hybrid garden strawberry. Wild strawberries are loaded with flavour and sweet. The plants are also much more harder when it comes to resisting disease and pests. Wild strawberry plants are everbearing and will come up early in the spring and produce berries from May to the fall. Buy the seeds here: wild strawberries, alpine strawberries. Wild strawberries are low growing and prefer acidic soils, so you can plant them at the base of your blueberry bushes. Strawberry leaves can be made into a tea.
All of these berry plants can be grown and maintained with hardly any effort, and it will save you lots of money. It’s nice to have garden books around the house as a reference, and The Berry Grower’s Companion is a nice one to have.
