Growing strawberries and blueberries in this area

[Anonymous]

So many people tell me how difficult it is to grow blueberries and strawberries - has anyone had success? Where do you purchase plants so that they produce the first year?

[Anonymous]

We grew our strawberries in a hanging basket and had no problems. We had a few ripen every day, so our yield wasn't huge, but it was fun for the kids. We bought the plants at a small stand near our home in Vienna, so I don't have any recs for you.

[Anonymous]

I grew blueberries, I live in the District, and the yield was tiny + they were shriveled looking. However, they tasted fine.

Now, the raspberries were a different story. Their yield has been decent, a handful a day, and they are juicy and taste delicious. I planted the golden variety and I noticed that you could buy them at Home Depot last year. GL!

[Anonymous]

My father grew strawberries and blueberries in Wheaton. The blueberry bush/tree was in full sun; some years were better than others. The strawberries were grown in partial shade. Raspberries grow very well in this area, but they need full sun.

[Anonymous]

We have GREAT success with raspberries. We grow tons of them in our backyard. I always send the kids out to pick them for me, and they stand there eating them right off the plants, which they really enjoy. PP is right, they need full/direct sun. They multiply on their own, so I dug out a few and gave them to my neighbor, and he put them in partial shade and they died. They like it really hot & sunny. And they're kind of brambly so you'd want to put them in an out-of-the-way spot; ours are tied back along our fence.

We also have a few wild strawberry plants, but the birds always eat them before we can get to them. (They won't eat the raspberries b/c the plants are too thorny.) I think you have to use nets with strawberries to keep the birds out, but we haven't bothered. I haven't gone out and bought strawberry plants but I may try it this spring and maybe I'd have better luck. I think it's hard to grow strawberries that are big and sweet around here, though. My friend grows them but they're small and not all that flavorful.

Haven't tried blueberries either but growing up in NJ we had blueberries growing in our yard so I'm sure you could grow them here too.

[Anonymous]

I've had success with strawberries but I think it takes a bit for them to establish. The first year we had maybe 10, the second year 20 and by year 3 we couldn't get to them fast enough. The bugs do get to them sometimes but my kids loved their daily strawberry banana smoothie.

[Anonymous]

I have a good strawberry patch. I bought my plants at Behnke's Nursery . Basically, I did http://www.squarefootgardening.com/. I built a 4 x 4 container with landscape cloth on the bottom to keep the weeds out and wood on the side. I filled it with compost, peat moss and vermiculite. After the first year, I just continue add compost. I made a chickenwire cover to keep the squirrels and birds out. Very important in my neighborhood. You may get by with just covering it with birdcloth and using bricks to hold it down so the squirrels can't crawl under. Lots of sun and steady water yielded lots of strawberries. At the end of the season, I cut the tops off so they will grow again next year. And I pluck off most of the runners because it gets too crowded.

I bought a blackberry bush at Home Depot, planted it with a lot of compost. It grew well but the birds attacked it just before the berries were ripe and before I got it covered. Will try again this spring.

[Anonymous]

Protect your raspberry bushes from birds, too! We have great, high-yield plants in our yard, and one year the birds absolutely denuded them. Since then, we've covered them with netting.