Maine Blueberry Season

If you want to cultivate blueberries, you have to plan a few years in advance. It takes time for the saplings to grow to full size and have a plentiful harvest. 

You can spend a lot of money to buy full sized blueberry bushes or you can get the saplings for much less.  I planted 20 little saplings over three days (spending a few hours after work).  I dug a bigger hole then needed and planted the root bulb with our mineral rich garden soil.  We have been adding compost and yes, manure to our soil for years.  Now this little blueberry sapling will not have to work as hard to spread its roots. Using the mulch helps keep moisture in the soil, which helps the bushes produce more berries.

The blueberries are growing where the flowers were  previously.

This is one of our full size blueberry bushes.    This blueberry bush is about seven years old and is a terrific berry producer.

It is great when the berries start turning blue.  Picking the berries is a tasty chore.  One for the mouth and one for the pail. My mom helped with this task while she was visiting recently and she reminded me of the children’s book, “Blueberries for Sal”.

A pile of freshly picked and washed blueberries; ready for baking into blueberry muffins. We have a great gluten free and dairy free recipe... I will update with that recipe card in the near future. Check back soon for one of our family favorites!

We have frozen 12 cups of blueberries this season and have canned 6 pints of blueberry jam.

Blueberry Jam! We keep our recipe simple: 4 cups blueberries, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 TBsp of lemon juice.

Even as we hit fall and the bulk of our blueberry season is over, we can still treat ourselves to fresh ripe berries.