If you’ve ever seen a list of “power foods” you know the health value of blueberries, which pack a high punch of nutrition, especially in antioxidants.

Blueberry bush in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Gazette photo)

Because fresh is best, you might consider growing blueberries at home.

Linn County Extension Master Gardener, Lisa Slattery, provided the following information about blueberries:

When thinking about this coming year’s garden, you might want to consider planting some small fruits along with your vegetables.  There are several types of small fruits that can be grown in Iowa with some prep and planning.  One of those is blueberries, which I personally love!  I grew up in Eastern Illinois and each July we went blueberry picking at a local farm where we picked gallons to eat and freeze.  Now, this farm was an actual blueberry farm with hundreds of bushes on several acres of land.  However, you can still enjoy berries with a few bushes in your backyard.  If you select the right variety of blueberry plants, grow them in the conditions they like and keep the birds away you too can have blueberry pie in July.

Blueberry plants are shrubs like currants, gooseberries and raspberries.  There are highbush and half-bush varieties that can be grown in Iowa.  The highbush blueberries are hardy in central and southern Iowa. Iowa State Extension suggests several varieties such as  ‘Blueray’, ‘Bluecrop’, and ‘Patriot.’  These bushes can reach heights of 6 to 8 feet tall.  Half-bush blueberries are a bit more cold hardy and usually only reach 2 to 3 feet in height.  Some suggested varieties are ‘Northblue’, ‘Northcountry’, ‘Northsky’, ‘Polaris’ and ‘St. Cloud.’  Blueberries require a sunny location, well-drained soil and like an acid soil PH of 4.0 to 5.5 which you can create by incorporating Canadian sphagnum peat into the soil.  Sulfur can also be used but should be applied a year before planting. Highbush varieties should be spaced 4 to 6 feet apart and half-bush varieties can be planted 3 to 4 feet apart.

Blueberries should not bear fruit for the first two years, so remove any blossoms that form to maximize vegetative growth and increase future yields.  Blueberry bushes will come into full production within 5 to 6 years (so I guess you might have to be patient to have pie.)  Blueberries require less specific pruning than other small fruits.  Yields and fruit quality decline when blueberry shoots (stems) reach 5 years of age.  So you will need to prune out the older stems and any dead or diseased stems in late winter/early spring.  When pruning out the older stems make sure you allow one to two new shoots to develop each year.

Birds are the biggest threat to blueberry bushes so use netting to protect your berries (once the fruit begins to turn color) from being devoured before you can bake your blueberry pie!  To learn more about growing blueberries in Iowa visit the ISU Extension website. www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/RG503.pdf

There will also be a class offered on growing blueberries at the Linn County Master Gardener’s Winter Gardening Fair on February 18th.