Like blueberries, lingonberries prefer well drained soils with 2-6% organic matter and pH 4.3-5.5. They also contain arbutin, which is a medical compound helpful in combating many infections including UTI. They contain four times the antioxidants of their cousin, the blueberry. The berries are very high in flavonoids and phenolic acids, which play an important role in the control of cancers and other diseases. They store well, lasting 6-8 week s in the refrigerator or up to 2 years frozen. Th ey can be harvested by hand or with a Swedish picking rake, which allows pickers to harvest 22-45 pounds per hours. Underripe berries are very bitter, but will ripen further off the vine as long as they are fully red. It is best to wait 1-2 weeks after the a ppearance of the first deep red berry to start harvesting. The October harvest boasts higher yields and larger berries. The plants flower and produce fruit tw ice per year: once in mid August and once in mid October. The berries are red, edible, and of various sizes. Lingonberries produce fruit on one year old wood. If you don’t know how many chill hours your area gets, Getchill has an excellent calculator that used local information from Wunderground’s Wundermap. One study shows that lingonberries require 800 Chill Hours to produce fruit. They are very well suited to colder climates and have been known to survive temperatures down to -50✯! Lingonberries will flower and produce fruit in more temperate growing regions. They spread readily by underground stems or rhizomes and will spread up to 9 inches over the first few years after they are planted. The plants themselves are perennial, woody shrubs that grow only 12-16 inches high. This pairing has led Finland to become a large importer of the berries from other countries in Northern Europe. They are extremely popular in Finland, where they are known as Puolukka and eaten whole in yogurt. In fact, only about 71 acres worldwide are dedicated to lingonberry cultivation however, we imagine that number is increasing rapidly as more and more people discover this wonderful plant. The majority of Lingonberries are wild harvested, not cultivated. They are known by many names across their native range, including Mountain Cranberry, Cowberry, and Foxberry to name a few. Some strawberries and lingonberry varieties also thrive in many apple or crabapple guilds.If you are looking for a new berry to add to your landscape this Fall, you should really consider Lingonberries. Currant, gooseberry and black raspberry shrubs appreciate protection from blistering afternoon sun, and they in turn reward the homeowner with luscious fruit. While lupines would probably win most beauty contents, planting a dozen bush beans in the first few years adds food to the family table as well as nutrition to the crabapple guild.įinally, plant shade-tolerant fruiting shrubs and groundcovers under the protection of taller crabapple varieties. The root systems of beans, clovers and lupines release nitrogen into the soil, enriching the tree’s growing area. Plantains, dandelions, chicory and yarrow all mine potassium and several trace elements from several feet below the topsoil.Īdd nitrogen-fixing plants. This family of perennials boasts long tap roots that burrow deep into the subsoil, bring up nutrients for neighboring plants to share. Plant bee balm, yarrow, lavender, clover, coriander, fennel and dill to attract predatory wasps, which also eat harmful larvae.Įstablish “mining plants” in the crabapple guild.Make an informal circle of purple-flowered comfrey outside the bulb rings.
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