Grow Blueberries In Your Los Angeles Garden!
May 7, 2009
Blueberries in my Pasadena garden
I am a unrepentant blueberry lover, and I’m thrilled to report that, yes you can grow blueberries in your Los Angeles or Pasadena garden. I’ve discovered they’re best grown in containers rather than in the ground. Blueberries are acid loving plants and it’s easier to create the ideal growing environment in a container.
This is the 3rd season for my blueberry plants and they’re bigger and more productive than ever. I grow them semi-organically in half barrels that I purchased at OSH, planted in organic soil for acid loving plants (Organic Camellia and Azalea potting mix from Armstrong Nursery). The only fertilizer I use is old coffee grounds spread around the base of the plants on top of the soil (don’t want to disturb the roots). Since my husband is the coffee drinker, I am at his mercy whether he will purchase organic or standard coffee, hence the “semi-organic” label. In addition, I use 1 or 2 inches of peat moss and organic potting soil (for acid loving plants) as a mulch in the spring. I make sure they get watered regularly. And that’s pretty much it.
I grow 2 different varieties of blueberry plants in my Pasadena garden: O’Neal (2 plants) and Misty (1 plant). They’re both Southern High Bush blueberries, which means they have low chill requirements and tolerate heat well. Growing 2 different varieties improves the size of the berries and the quantity. Both varieties are “early” berries. I just harvested my first bowl of O’Neal berries today (Oh, Happy Day!). The Misty plant which has plenty of green berries on it, usually ripens a week or two later than the O’Neals.
Growing blueberries in containers in Pasadena
Last year, I got about 3/4 of a gallon of blueberries from my 3 plants. This year, I expect to double that. Blueberries come into their own when they are about 5 years old, and can produce for another 15 years. The mockingbirds have discovered my backyard blueberries and now we are at competing to see who can get to the ripening blueberries first. My husband built a cage around the blueberry bushes this weekend, made of hardware cloth (coarse screen) and bird net, so I’ll have a fighting chance.
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Early this year, we bought a house in Whittier, and lo and behold we found a blueberry bush bearing fruit just last Sunday (in the ground, no pampering). I want to grow more. Should I plant fairly close to the first plant? And where can I get a blueberry plant?
Lucky you, George! Hopefully the ground around your new found blueberry plant was properly prepared with lots of peat moss (acidic) or an acidic planting mix. If you are going to plant more blueberries in the ground, make sure the soil is heavily amended with peat moss. Commercial blueberry growers in California actually amend the soil with sulfuric acid to get the right pH balance! If you are going to use commercial fertilizer, then use one for acid loving plants like camellias and azaleas.
Blueberries like lots of sun, but I find mine do best with light shade in the late afternoon here in Pasadena where it can get very hot in the afternoon. If the area near your other blueberry bush meets these sun requirements, then you should plant your new plants near by. You want them close enough so that bees pollinating the flowers of one, pollinate the flowers of the other. But you want a little space between them so it makes it easier to harvest your delicious blueberries. Mine are planted in half barrels so that the plants are about 4′ apart (the barrels are about 1′ apart).
Choose blueberry plants that are a different variety from the one you already have. You can bring a branch with a few leaves to compare to your local nursery, or you can buy 2 new plants of different varieties. Blueberry plants produce best when there are at least 2 different varieties in close proximity.
I purchased my blueberry plants from Burkhard’s Nursery in Pasadena. I have also seen them sold at some Armstrong Nursery Centers.