Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

On a grey day, think blue (or pink)

Blueberries grow well here with the right care

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED JAN 7, 2021

Yes, blueberries can be pink. These stunners were ripening early last June in

a Carmichael garden. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

In normal times, the winter workshops and Open Garden at the Sacramento County master gardeners' Fair Oaks Horticulture Center would feature a lot of hands-on information about growing and pruning fruit trees and bushes, including in the Berry Garden. Alas, not this year, but a great deal of information is available online. Be sure to check that any information you find is appropriate for our climate. (Hint: Start with the master gardeners' website .)

Blueberry plants look very stark in winter -- this

is a Southmoon at the Fair Oaks Horticulture

Center -- but some produce gorgeous red leaves

in late fall. (See next photo)

Cane berries, such as raspberries, can be tricky, but blueberries, which are a perennial shrub, are an easier choice for the first-time berry grower. Plus, blueberries rank high on the superfoods list, and they're not as fragile as cane berries. They do very well in containers or in the ground, but have one special requirement: They prefer more-acidic soil than we have in the region, in the pH range of 4.5-5.5.

So do a test of the soil where you plan to put your blueberry bush. Information on how to adjust the pH, in the best summary of blueberry growing I've found, is in "Growing Blueberries in the Sacramento Region," an Environmental Horticulture Note, EHN 88, written by the Sac master gardeners.

Now is a great time to shop for blueberry bushes, during bare-root season when plants are plentiful and less expensive. But not every blueberry variety does well here -- our hot summers, you know -- so the recommended varieties all fall under the category of Southern highbush, which have lower "chilling hours" requirements (hours of temperatures under 45 degrees during dormancy) in the 150-800 hour range.

(Northern highbush types have very high chilling requirements, as many as 1,000 hours, which is why they're grown as far north as Canada.)

These pretty leaves are on one of my container
plants.

The local nurseries know to stock these varieties, but give them a call if there's a particular one you're seeking. Some examples available at The Plant Foundry , Green Acres Nursery and Big Oak Nursery include:

-- Sunshine Blue, Misty, O'Neal, Southmoon and Sharpblue, which are standard Southern highbush. Just 150 to 200 chilling hours required, which is why these are so popular here.

-- Peach Sorbet (300 hours) and Pink Icing (500 hours), both very pretty compact Southern highbush varieties.

-- Pink Lemonade, a stunning plant that produces sweet pink berries. It's a hybrid "rabbiteye," another category of blueberry altogether, which usually is grown in humid climates in the South. This one requires only 300 chill hours, but is reported to require another rabbiteye bush nearby.

Southern highbush varieties are self-pollinating but also often do better with another variety planted nearby. Like other fruit producers, they take a little while to get going, often best by their third year.

I have four blueberry plants -- three in pots -- and they are finally into their producing years. They'll be pruned in the next few weeks. Keeping the birds and squirrels away from the crop is my new concern, but that's a post for the spring!

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

UCCE master gardeners soil test Sacramento backyard fruit blueberries weather fruit gardening growing berries pruning winter chill dormancy pH levels

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

Local News

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Sites We Like

Garden checklist for week of Aug. 2

Get out early in the morning and monitor your garden’s moisture needs. Deep water and add temporary shade structures for plants that are feeling a little burned. In particular, protect developing peppers and eggplant.

* Put off fertilization until this heat passes; plants need to concentrate on hydration instead of growth.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don’t let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips. Make sure to keep seeds and seedlings consistently moist.

* Plant potatoes.

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Spring! E-cookbook