Re: help needed to grow blueberries in Athens, Greece

Hi Lorraine,

I know that what I'm talking about is not blueberry, but i's funny anyway, because while I was reading an old magazine The Garden (february 2005) yesterday, I found an article about unusual crops and they mentioned the edible or blue honeysuckle : lonicera caerulea var. edulis :
"the inky-blue berries have a sharp flavour even when fully ripe, not unlike blueberries"
"with the twin advantages of not needing acidic soil and ripening in june, well before normal blueberries"
"The sweeter-tasting subspecies Lonicera caerulea ssp. kamtschatica, found in eastern Siberia and Kamchatka, has been used in St-Petersburg to develop improved cultivars such as Lonicera caerulea ssp. kamtschatica 'Blue Velvet' and 'Blue Bird'"
As I'm planning a small kitchen garden, and as I do love blueberries me too, I think I'm trying this honeysuckle (you need two plants for better cross-pollination). My soil is alkaline too. The great difficulty now is to find these cultivars here in France.

Chantal Guiraud
Montpellier, France

Le 28 mars 07 à 13:43, L Schmiege a écrit :

Help needed,  I purchased 4 blueberry bareroot plants.  The only information on the box is that it is Mirtillo  Arbusti da Frutto Extra.  Directions are in Italian and no company name is visable.  I understand that they need acid soil and have purchased some so that I could plant these in a large pot, tub size.  I thought I could put two into a pot.  I live in Greece, above Athens where we have cool nights and hot dry summer days. Does anyone know how large these will get?  Also do I need a different one as a polinator?  I read in Sunset magazines that there are blueberries developed for California climates and mine here is like zone 8 or 9.  You many ask why go through all the bother and my answer is I come from Michigan and really like blueberries.
 
Thanks in advance.
 
Lorraine Schmiege

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