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Yep I have thought about growing them too.

Not sure where I heard this and so not sure how true, but are blackberries just as good for you as blueberries, and better still free.

I must admit I am put off buying soft fruits because of those poxy little containers, what a waste of resources.

Before you go out and buy the plants, remember, you need acid soil. Or you will have to plant them in containers in special compost.

I've been thinking about them because I have acid soil here. What would I do with them though apart from jam? What are they like raw - edible or sour?

really nice raw, with a bit of cream.

My favourite berries raw - even without cream! You can use them in pies and muffins, too, and pancakes...

I planted two in spring two years ago and only had a handful of berries so far. They had some unscheduled pruning from the goats... So yes, goats love them, too.

If you don't have the right soil, you really need ericaceous compost (gosh, is that spelling correct???). And it's difficult to get that peat free... There's so few proper peat bogs left, I am rather strictly against using peat in the garden. And you are supposed to only use rainwater for watering, tap water generally being too limey.

Ina

ina wrote: I am rather strictly against using peat in the garden.

Ina

good to hear.

I also hear that blueberries are one of the plants that actually grow better in Scotland than they do way down here.

Mmmm blueberries are my little Jonathan's favourite treat - without cream.. just as they come... he'll eat them until the cows come home!!

We MUST grow some of these - and yes, they do grow well in Scotland, as do lots of berries.

We go walking up the hills in late summer and can pick and eat blaeberries - delicious. The purple-stained fingers are a bit of a give away lol.

One place in particular we go is Tap O Noth - from the carpark you walk through loads of raspberry plants - not sure that they are wild but you can pick and eat these too. The children love it! So first course is rasps and then blaeberries once you get a bit further up - there are other bits and pieces too!!

Ina.. our tapwater is from our own well and is acidic (rather too acidic) so we can use it - although we are going to have some kind of rainwater harvesting system soon.

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Yep, same here - but down south it's different... Since I've lived in Scotland, I've had no more furry white stuff in my kettle!

Our glen is full of raspberries, too, also some red currants, and there are places for blaeberries, but I haven't found them yet... Funny enough no brambles. But I've planted some.

Ina

ina...

perhaps you could come and walk up tap o noth with us in the summer time...

It's a date!

Ina

Right that's decided, I shall get some blueberries. I thought they would be sour like redcurrants!

Is it Aberdeen that is called the Granite City? Sounds like Brittany, soft water and acid soil on granite. It's a nice change as my last house was in a very chalky area, so bad that all the stones (millions of them) in the soil were white.

MMM - yes, Aberdeen is the Granite City!
It's nearly 40 miles from here though and we don't make the trip into town that often. Too many people there anyway lol..... turning into a hermit methinks.

xx

I quite agree - for me it's 30 miles to Aberdeen, and unless I have to go for work reasons (not very often, thank goodness), I try to avoid the place... Nothing there that I couldn't get here as well, either in the small shops around the area or on the internet.

Must admit, my friend dragged me off to see the latest Harry Potter film on New Years Day... And for that it has to be the big bad city. Movie time is about once a year - last year it was Lord of the Rings!

Ina

Millymollymandy wrote:Right that's decided, I shall get some blueberries. I thought they would be sour like redcurrants!

When your redcurrants turn red leave them on the bush for another week (at least). Keep tasting one or two.

They get sweeter and sweeter.

We had lovely juicy redcurrants in one of our gardens up here... .in fact we were over run with them... red currants, blackcurrants, whitecurrants... rasps, delicious. Aim is to get some established here asap but lack of funds have prevented it this year.

Must look into the seed possibilities - much cheaper than plants but is it effective.