Companion Planting
Thinking of growing strawberry mark with blueberries in your garden this season ? Companion planting is a coarse practice but can lead to stunt crops when you match your plant life incorrectly . In this article , gardening expert Liessa Bowen looks at if blueberries and strawberry make in effect fellow traveler plants in the garden .
If you like turn your own fruit , you may already grow strawberry or blueberries . If you do n’t , perhaps you are considering impart these yummy fruit to your eatable landscape painting . Bothstrawberriesandblueberriesare fairly easy to grow and yield some pretty telling harvests . But you may be inquire , can you originate them together ?
Strawberriesare herbaceous perennialsthat typically bring out fruits from late fountain through other summer . They are low - growing plants that diffuse by above - land moon curser . If allowed to raise freely , hemangioma simplex will make an good ground cover . Their sweet scarlet fruits are an other - season favorite .
blueberry arewoody perennial shrubsthat image in size of it from 1 to 12 feet . They can be grown as a hedgerow , in a cluster , or as individual plantings . Blueberries typically bloom in spring and produce an teemingness of sweet aristocratic fruit by mid - summertime . Blueberries are long - know works that can savour many productive fruit - hold long time .
Let ’s take a closer look at both strawberries and blueberries andfind out if these two fruits will make agreeable fellow plantsin your garden this season !
Contents
The Short Answer
Yes , strawberry and blueberry can grow together . Just make indisputable you foot the proper varieties of each works for your hardiness geographical zone . If you have the ideal conditions to mature a blueberry bush plant , you could also easily contain strawberries into the planting area . Strawberries can serve supply subtlety for the blueberry flora ’s roots and also help reduce challenger with weeds . Both plants can also be grown in a comparatively small grow outer space .
The Long Answer
Strawberries and blueberries are both readily accessible fruit - bearing flora . you could easily grow both in the home garden . But while strawberries and blueberry do n’t typically mature at the same time , they can be grow together and make concordant fellow traveller plant .
fellow traveller planting has beenpracticed in garden for centuries . The idea is that there are sealed plants that , when grown together , can benefit each other . How ? Companion works can be used to assist ward off pests , attract pollinators , provide shade , supply support , reduce grass , or increase soil nutrient .
There are many goodcompanion planting combinations for strawberriesand blueberry . Growing these two fruit alongside one another may not offer as many benefits as some other combination , but these two plants are surely open of grow together .
Strawberry Basics
strawberry mark plants can be grow as dauntless perennial in USDA hardiness zones 5 through 8 . They do n’t like too much passion and humidity , however , and in warm climates , zones 9 and 10 , they are well grown as cool season annuals .
Strawberries are low - growing herbaceous industrial plant that shape a leafy rosette and make a reasonably sound ground cover . Plants typically bloom in the spring , and yield ripen by early summertime . A fresh ripe strawberry is a very tasty dainty andwell deserving the effortof develop !
Strawberries do best in full sun , but will tolerate a small amount of shade . Plants grown in a sunny localization will have mystifying dark-green leaves , abundant spring blooms , and produce an abundance of seraphic reddened fruit .
Strawberry plants do best in well - enfeeble grime that is a bit sandy but also rich in constitutive topic . Strawberries modernize bass roots so go the soil down a bit so the roots have a sound deepness to grow into . Strawberries do best with a more or less acidulous soil , with a pH anywhere between 5.4 and 7 .
Strawberries wish to be keep moist , not too wet and not too dry . In ideal condition , the dirt around your strawberry plant should have a consistent “ slightly moist ” spirit . Do n’t allow for strawberry to sit down in wet dirt or the rootage and crowns may rot .
Blueberry Basics
Blueberries are woody shrubs that range in size of it from 1 - foot grandiloquent lowbush blueberry plants to 12 - foot tall rabbiteye varieties . Depending on the variety , blueberry bushes are hardy from USDA hardiness zones 3 through 8 .
This mean you could grow blueberries just about anywhere ! They are oftenused as landscape shrubs with ornamental value , and not only as a yield - produce shrub .
A fledged , intelligent blueberry bush bush can produce an abundance of yield . Tiny whiteflowers flower in the spring and draw in pollinator . Fruits ripenfrom mid to recent summerand attract birds , as well as thirsty humans .
Blueberries prosper in full sun , but will tolerate some light shade . Ideally , position your blueberry plants in a location that receives at least 6 minute of direct sunlight each day . Plants mature in full sun will be healthier and get more fruit than those grown in a shady location .
Blueberries are a bit picky about their dirt . They need soil that is acidic , with a pH ideally somewhere between 4 and 5.5 . grime should be prolific and deep in organic issue . Soil needs to be well - run out but still able to hold back wet .
Blueberry plants develop a dull and fibrous but shallow root organization , and they like their etymon to remain moist . Dry roots during efflorescence and fruiting time of year can result in a loss of flowers and berries .
Growing Them Together
There are somebenefits of growing strawberries and blueberriestogether . strawberry will help reduce the need to mulch around your blueberries , and both flora will attract pollinator when they blossom .
These plants are also both perennials , so you will not require to uproot and replant every year , but there will by nature be some preparation and sustentation required .
prefer a location withplenty of verbatim sunlight , as both of these plants opt full sun . Avoid planting too close to other existing trees and shrubs that can create too much refinement or competition for piddle and nutrients .
Also , choose a location that you could hand easily from all counselling because you will need full access to your plants during harvest time time !
strawberry and blueberry have slenderly different soil pH preferences . strawberry are probably more adaptable to filth properties , so prepare your land with apH of around 5.5 . Use a soil pH test kit to verify your dirt sourness is ideal .
This is at the upper death of their preferred scope for blueberries and towards the lower end of the hemangioma simplex ’s favorite soil pH. If you take to supply any ground amendments , do this well in advance of planting to ensure the soil is well - meld and matured .
Ideally , do your planting in either other spring or crepuscule . Since the blueberry bush is the larger and longer - living of these two plants , it ’s in all probability best to plant the blueberry first .
ready the soil and planting domain for the blueberry while leaving enough infinite around it for a strawberry mark fleck . Remember that strawberries will spread by runners , and neither hemangioma simplex nor blueberry bush value contest from weeds , so earmark great deal of space for your fruit plant .
You do n’t call for to plant the strawberry and blueberries at exactly the same time , but doing so will permit everything to prove together . If you get your blueberry plant settled first , you’re able to easily add strawberry on the same day or shortly thereafter .
blueberry are long - last and rise a wide-cut reaching but shallow antecedent system . In order tominimize root disturbancefor your blueberries , it would be best to imbed the strawberries before the blueberry bush roots spread out too much .
Keep the area around your flora barren from weeds . weed around both plants will help cut down competition for calorie-free , nutrients , and dirt wet , therefore yieldhealthier fruiting industrial plant .
Mulch is utile for both strawberries and blueberries because it helps reduce green goddess and also assist keep the dirt moist .
you’re able to use husk , pine acerate leaf , wood chips , or wood bark as mulch . Some people may choose a synthetic mulch cloth that can run well as weed control but ready it harder to effectively water your plant .
Since both strawberries and blueberries wish to be kept moist , you could water them at the same time and not worry that one will be too sloshed or the other will be too dry .
Check the field regularly and verify that the filth is moist . It should never feel soggy and should n’t be allowed to dry altogether for very long .
blueberry bush will benefit from annual pruning . Each wintertime during the dormant season , murder the thinnest most scraggly branches of your blueberry bush industrial plant . This will permit the strong and healthy branches to develop fruit and will give the in force harvest .
Strawberries will open quickly by runner . Keep enough plants growing to establish a healthy patch , but slenderize out superfluous plants when they become too crowded .
Strawberry plants can live for a few years , but older plant life will conk and be by nature replaced by raw stolon . Remove any plants that look dead or pathological , and justkeep the healthy plantsin your strawberry patch .
Final Thoughts
Growing either blueberries or strawberry mark is a very rewarding horticulture endeavor . Growing them together istwice as rewarding . If you ’re quick to enjoy these colorful and sweet yield , you’re able to grow them together in a gay garden positioning and enjoy many days of delicious snacking .
Take some time to plant your yield in an idealistic location and give them some regular care and attention , and your feat will be rewarded as you enjoy your own home - grown goodies .
