A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Berry Plants

I bought some strawberry and blueberry plants this year. Can I plant them right in my vegetable garden? Will they bear fruit this summer or not until next? How do they have to be pruned?

There are some good threads here about strawberries, check 'em out!
They can go right in the garden. The everbearing are a little different than the Junebearing, but pretty similar, and you will get some fruit this year, but you should probably pick off the first blossoms.
I killed my blueberries, so can't comment on them, except that they need VERY acidic soil. Lots of blueberries are grown in your area, aren't they? You may want to use a lot of peat moss where you plant the blueberries, that will ensure soil acidity. You should always plant more than one type of blueberry to get good pollination.

Strawberries are very easy, but like Dave said blueberries need soil pH in the 4.5-5.0 range. If you can't provide that, they most likely won't survive. Garden sulfur and peat moss will gradually lower the pH but it takes a while depending on what it's pH is now.

I am putting in a raised strawberry bed this year too. Last year I bought locally raised strawberries to make jam and my family loved it so much that it would be cheaper for me to raise my own rather than buy them every year.

Blueberries on the other hand grow wild up here, so it is cheaper for me to purchase them rather than try to get an area right to raise them.

I've started a couple of hanging baskets with strawberries. I'm going to move more into containers. I eventually want a 3 foot high raised bed so I an pick them without bending. My patch now is huge, but I don't pick them all because of my back! It's bad enough just getting my garden planted.

I thought about hanging baskets too, but I have no place to hang them... LOL

So I have no choice but to do a raised bed, fortunately I have an acre of property that needs some dressing up! I'm thinking of doing 2 beds that way either I'll plant alot of berries or I'll be able to go back and forth so the soil can rest between plantings of berries.

...for bunnies to hop up to and eat! I have yet to get strawberries established because they are always being munched on by those cute little fuzzy critters

Karen

GOOD LUCK!

Let me know if it works! My neighbor has a little dog that I want to keep out of my berry plants, he is about the same size as a big bunny. The little jerk already peed on some of my trees and killed them. If he does it again he may be a dead dog!

Really tho I do like dogs, I just wish some owners would be more courtious and keep them under control and not let them destroy other peoples things.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I will try putting both berry types into the veggie garden and see what happens. I don't know how acidic my soil is as I've never tested it, but I will try some peat moss in the hope that it helps.

Hey a few more qs...I did read ALL of the other strawberry posts. Can someone provide a link that shows what the "runners" look like that you're supposed to cut back? Do you cut them all back or just some? How do you replant the runners to get new plants? Just stick them in a pot? One more thing...for people growing strawberries in pots on a fence or deck, how do you keep birds away?

Runners look like a plant on a string kinda what I used to do is let them root and then cut the "string" you will know it when you see it..
welcom to the forum as you can see lots of help here ...
Blueberries were easy for me as I planted them right next to my pine trees.. the needles are acidic..and in a sunny location..
as for birds you could put a bird net up so they cant get to them...

Karen ! Bless you for caring about the gentle, meek rabbities !
Thank you for fencing and nothing "else" !!!
Kudos, girlie !