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    Home » Garden » Gardening How To

    How to Grow Blueberries

    By: Jane · Updated: 1 Mar, '18 · This post may contain affiliate links · 11 Comments

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    Going out into your backyard or garden to grab a handful of homegrown blueberries is so rewarding. Blueberries are easy to grow if you follow our how to grow blueberries tips in this post!

    Blueberries are easy to grow as long as you follow these 5 tips!


     
    Hi everyone! It seems like I've been working on this post with our tips on how to grow blueberries for over a week. But LIFE has a way of getting in the way sometimes. LIFE and TOMATOES, that is! The tomatoes all ripened at once and when that happens, you've got to do something with them-quickly! Over the past several weeks, I've canned 31 quarts of my Homemade Spaghetti Sauce and frozen 6 gallons of Shrimp Creole sauce. Whew! 

    How to grow blueberries

    But back to the blueberries. This is our second year on our blueberry bushes, and we've had a very successful harvest this year. Every time I go out into the garden, I get a handful of these and have a little snack. So natural and delicious, not to mention nutritionally good! 

    How to grow blueberries | cottage at the crossroads

    This is NOT the time for planting blueberry bushes for most of you who are reading this, but I thought I'd pass along some of our growing tips to you. I was spurred along to do this when a friend was touring our garden recently and she stopped at the blueberry bushes and asked how we got such large blueberries. So as I was telling her what we did, I thought that I should just put the tips on the blog, as well.  

    How to grow blueberries | cottage at the crossroads

    I wish that we'd had these tips about 5 years ago because that's when we first planted some blueberry bushes, very unsuccessfully, I might add. We just stuck some in the ground and hoped for the best but that didn't happen. They DIED! Now we know exactly why that happened, and these tips will help you avoid that if you choose to plant some bushes yourself. 

    Tip #1: Choose the right type

    Types and varieties of blueberries

    First of all, you must choose the correct type of bush according to where you live.   Some blueberries need a specific number of cold hours each winter to regulate their growth, and if they don't experience enough cold, the flower buds may not open in the spring.  Knowing which hardiness zone you live in is crucial in choosing the right type of bush to plant. For example, we live in South Carolina so it would be futile for us to plant any of the lowbush varieties since our winters are not cold enough for that type. Other types of blueberries are more heat tolerant which is the kind we selected.  Additionally, each state has a cooperative extension website that should have recommendations for your area. The Clemson Cooperative Extension website has a wealth of information on growing blueberries in SC. 

    How to grow blueberries

    Who knows what types we planted 5 years ago! We were such greenhorns who've learned to do some prior research before planting! Now we have 3 Southern highbushes and 3 Rabbiteyes. The Rabbiteyes are native to the southeastern part of the US. They are the most heat tolerant and the least cold hardy which is perfect for our climate, and the Southern highbushes are doing very well, too. We purchased container grown plants from a nursery that were several years old. 

    Tip #2: Plant 2 or more varieties

    Pick 2-3 varieties when choosing your plants for cross-pollination to occur. Most need another variety nearby to bear a lot of fruit, and having more than one variety will extend your growing season as well. Our Rabbiteyes starting bearing fruit in early June and now we are harvesting from our Southern Highbushes. 

    Tip #3: Make the soil acidic

    Blueberries are acid lovers so you must make your soil where you are going to plant very acidic. After you select the spot where you're going to plant, it would be best to have a soil test done to get an accurate pH reading and to follow the recommendations for making it more acidic. And depending on the type of soil that you have, you may need to amend your soil with some organic matter such as compost or peat moss as well. All of this could be done in the fall prior to planting in late winter or early spring.  But here's our little secret for how we made our soil more acidic.

    Using coffee grounds to make the soil around blueberries more acidic

    Yep! It comes in a bag and it's FREE!

    Using coffee grounds around blueberry bushes

    Every once in a while Leo drives by Starbucks, buys a cup of coffee, and asks if they have any bags of grounds ready to throw away. They just toss them out the window into the back of his truck, and you may have already read how we add them to our compost pile. So when Leo dug the holes to plant our blueberry bushes 2 years ago, he put some grounds into the planting hole, and every fall and spring he adds them to the top of the soil and waters them in well.  Nothing better than FREE, folks!

    Tip #4: Mulch to control weeds 

    Remember those poor blueberry bushes that we originally planted 5 years ago that died? Well, we planted them outside our garden in a spot that got very weedy, competing with the blueberries for the nutrients in the soil. Before we knew it, the weeds were growing all up into the bushes and the situation was out of control. 

    How to grow blueberries

    Now our bushes are inside our garden with a heavy layer of landscaping fabric and straw around them. It's easy now to hand pull any weeds that try to come up around the roots or through the fabric. Having the plants inside the garden also protects the plants from deer which do live in the woods behind us. 

    Tip #5: Provide enough water

    Another mistake that we made with our original blueberry bushes was that we planted them too far away from a water supply. In the beginning, we remembered to give them some water, but then it got hot and it was such a chore to get water to them. MAJOR MISTAKE! 

    Drip system to blueberry plants

    Now we have a drip system in place to water our plants. It is worth the time and expense to do this, especially since blueberry bushes should live and produce for many years if the growing conditions are right. 

    We feel that we've gotten these bushes off to the right start and we've been enjoying a sweet harvest this year.

    How to grow blueberries

    Now there are other things that we need to learn to do such as correctly pruning the bushes, but from what I've read, we won't need to start doing that until the fourth year or so.  

    If you have a spot in your backyard, consider planting a few blueberry bushes not only because they bear fruit but for their ornamental value as well. Just remember to plant them in full sun. And you may have to protect the fruit from your feathered friends by using some netting, although we have not had to do that. 

    How to grow blueberries

    Following our tips on how to grow blueberries should ensure a sweet harvest for you as well.

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    1. Willie Buckels

      May 25, 2021 at 7:00 pm

      I have four varieties of rabbiteye blueberries. I believe they are Climax, Powderblue, Premier and Brightwell. Is it possible to identify the deferent varieties? They are all doing great. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

      Reply
    2. Arline

      September 28, 2019 at 4:28 pm

      I'm at the beginning stage of growing Blueberries. Great advice for growing them. So do you also fertilize with 10-10-10 in the spring besides the coffee grounds?
      thanks

      Reply
      • Jane Windham

        September 29, 2019 at 5:40 pm

        Yes, we sometimes fertilize in the spring especially when we don't have coffee grounds. But instead of using a 10-10-10 formulation, we use fertilizer for acid loving plants.

        Reply
    3. Ethel

      March 01, 2018 at 6:21 pm

      I just ordered 4 blueberry plants from a local nursery today. So glad I found you! Thanks for the great advice. Wish me luck.

      Reply
    4. sheryl L lawson

      June 13, 2016 at 3:11 pm

      Hi, I love your post. We have 1100 blueberry plants here in NW Ohio. My husband and I planted them like you all did at first. We took care of them the best we could but wow weeds and more weeds. SOme bushes died and we replanted. My husband took a stand he said, there is a way to make them grow so he studied up and the bushes are thriving well. We added the same thing youall did. The bushes we have are 7 years old and now are starting to get tall it seems like it took forever because we couldn't get the balance right and thank goodness we have great soil here. We hope to open a upick. Time will tell LOL. I will be looking forward to seeing your post. Thank you much Sheryl ( lawson) and Thomas Bashor

      Reply
    5. carmen butler

      April 21, 2016 at 11:27 am

      Thank you for the tips. I will try a couple more varieties. I bought two Rabbbiteye, Brightwell. This will be my first try for blueberries. I'm in Oklahoma. I planned to try a container for one plant, and another on a mound. But now ill just use containers. I don't have much room but plenty of sun. I'm calling the Extension Service. Thanks again.

      Reply
    6. Mary

      July 21, 2015 at 5:34 am

      Thanks for the tips Jane! I was wondering as I was reading if your blueberry bushes were a bird buffet and it you netted them or not 🙂

      Reply
    7. Melanie

      July 12, 2015 at 2:48 pm

      Great tips! We have a blueberry plant and it needs some love, so this post will help. Would you mind sharing the shrimp creole sauce? I would love to try it!

      Reply
    8. Shelley

      July 12, 2015 at 1:04 pm

      sadly so many fruit plants and trees got a one two punch of weather...first in November...hard freeze and the plants were not ready...then again in May....so my poor blueberry plants didn't do well....it's iffy here in N Colorado....our cherry tree and an apple did not make it....as with so many cherry trees in the area...so we take what we get....and this has been a very odd weather year for us...

      Reply
    9. Kris @ Junk Chic Cottage

      July 12, 2015 at 11:59 am

      Jane,
      Blueberries are my faves and especially home grown. Happy Sunday.
      Kris

      Reply
    10. Dawn

      July 12, 2015 at 11:49 am

      Great post Jane, I love seeing your garden with all the berries. My hubby mowed all my blueberries down a few years ago, said he didn't know what they were 🙁 Your berry patch is making me want to replant.

      Reply

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