Blueberries and Lemons
I am new to the site, so firstly HELLO all…
Secondly and beyond :-)
I live on the Northside in the Giralang Area.
I am interested in trying to grow blueberries and was wondering if anyone knew anything about growing them in Canberra , like is it possible, what conditions would be needed etc.
Also looking at growing a lemon tree but not sure what variety is best.
Sharon
22 July, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Nothing to it, same with most berries. Keep watered in summer (shallow roots), mulch well and provide compost/organic matter when planting, avoid windy areas or areas getting lots of hot afternoon summer sun. Grow a mix of early, mid and late varieties for longer harvests, too much is never enough! Good luck.
23 July, 2010 at 10:35 pm
Thanx so much Scott.
Do you have any idea of which varieties do best in Canberra?
I like the idea of the early, late and mid season varieties.
Do you have any idea what sort of a harvest you would get out of one tree/plant? there are only 2 of us but we like jam as well.
26 July, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Hi Sharon
We have a lemon tree in our garden and it does pretty well. It is well known that the Meyer variety can withstand more frost than Eureka and Lisbon. If you can provide some frost protection results are even better.
John
26 July, 2010 at 6:07 pm
John.
Is the Meyer a lemony lemon?, our neighbour has a lemon and it doesn’t taste like a lemon but a mixture between an orange and a lemon. I am after a lemon that not only looks but also tastes like a lemon and is good for juicing.
We can probably provide some frost protection.
Thanx for your response.
Sharon
5 August, 2010 at 1:44 pm
I have Northland and Brigitta but really any variety from the local nursery or online nursery (like Daley’s) will be fine – the main difference is the number of chilling hours required and in Cbr that’s not a problem! If you want berries for jam as well as fresh I would put in a minimum of four plants, the more the better as jam needs a reasonable amount of fruit and it will probably be two years or so before you get enough berries to do jam.
7 August, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Hello, I am new too and thought I would jump in for some blueberry advice as well. I bought a plant by mail order. It had no leaves, but has produced a couple of new leaves in the past week (I foolishly left it on the kitchen bench instead of taking it outside). Would anyone know if I am OK to plant it out in the garden, or should I protect it from the frost.
Thanks for your help :)
Nicole
9 August, 2010 at 12:43 pm
Have experimented with a few varieties of lemons in my VERY frosty little bit of Canberra. My advice would be: North Facing Bricks.
The Meyer is the hybrid one that does taste pretty orangy. Probably the most frost hardy of the bunch but don’t buy from Daleys. They’re in Northern NSW (almost QLD) and their plants (sadly) are not hardened. They’ll die as soon as they arrive. Go somewhere in Pialligo instead. Neighbour has a beaut one of these that fuits 12 months a year. But, like you I wanted a lemony lemon so…..
Of the lemony-lemons…..
The Eureka is still struggling along although the amount of time and care I have to put into getting this fella to fruit in canberra is pretty insane. Am about to pop another in front of my best and warmest warm bricks – hopefully that should be a good plant. They really aren’t good frosties though.
The Lisbon is basically stuffed. Despite the fact it’s growning right next to an orange and a mandarin, it’s the one that’s popped it’s clogs first. Total loss.
As an aside, I’m trying to source a finger-lime grafted on to super-hardy root stock. Might be another failure, but it’s always interesting to try…..
10 August, 2010 at 11:53 am
Scott and RedPhin
Thanx for your replies.
Scott – Thanx for the heads up on how many plants would be needed for both eating and jam (hubby likes blueberries on his cereal in the morning).
RedPhin – Thanx for all of your VERY informative information on lemons, I much prefer a lemony lemon so will steer clear of the Meyer. If necessary we can hessian the lemon over winter to help protect it from frost, we planned this for our passionfruit (see below) but is hasn’t needed it.
I am growing passionfruit up the wall of the house and we had planned on hessianing it for winter but it hasn’t needed it, sure it has yellowed off a bit but it is still alive etc. I think part of this helps that the central heating unit is also on this wall not much further up so this may also help heat the wall up. It is on the Westerly wall of the house. One of the plants is about 2 yrs old and the other 2 are about 1 yr old, the older one is a grafted Nelly Kelly Black Passionfruit and the other 2 are non grafted black passion fruit (we tried different ones to see what does best etc) they are all doing well, no fruit yet but that is to be expected as they say it takes like 2 yrs for it to fruit (we did get flowers on the older vine last year so hopefully this year we will get our first crop of fruit).
Does anyone know if Lemons or Blueberries are susceptable to Possum attack? we have t have all of our vegie beds fully netted or the local wild possums eat everything, and knowing if I would have to net the trees etc would be handy.
14 August, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Another lemon option is the commonn bush lemon which are very hardy and grow to a great size. We too have a Meyer that is doing beautifully in front of a north facing wall. I was about to plant a Lisbon, but after reading RedPhin’s post above, I’m now hesitant. Perhaps I’ll pu in a bush lemon too!
As for blueberries, as long as you get the highbush blueberries, not rabbit-eyes, they do well here. The rabbit-eyes are for low-chill climates and are avilable on-line but usuallky not through the local nurseries, so if you shop locally you should be safe. They do like acidic soil–add well-rotted cow manure to the soil and mulch with pine needles or pine bark for a bit more acid. If camelias, azaleas or rhododendrons do well in your garden (or your neighbours’) then blueberries should so fine as they like similar soil and climate.
We don’t get possums (yet) so I’m not sure about the lemons. You can be sure they’ll for the berries though as do birds. When they are fruiting, you need to keep picking very two days (or more) and netting is advisable.
So pleased to hear about your passionfruit success. We are just about to plant two. I’d like to try Black Magic as I’ve read it’s good for Canberra, and one other.
Nicole, the blueberry can be planted out now, in fact this is an excellent time to plant them. Most of ours have no leaves on yet, some have just a few leaves.
16 August, 2010 at 10:54 am
The best lemon for Canberra is Meyer. Eureka is more lemony, but you will still be waiting for fruit in about 7 years time. Lisbon does not do well here.
For more information on growing citrus and blueberries in Canberra, go to http://www.thegarden.com.au and look at the information sheets.