Sunday, February 17, 2013

Cranberries for the home garden. Really?


So Mom and I decided to go to Dans Farm and get some fresh free range eggs and veggies today. I was talking about my conundrum with cranberry sauce and NOT using Ocean Spray. I boycott Ocean Spray because they are on the list of companies that donated to fight GMO labelling in California. The only place I could find organic cranberries was Nova Scotia. So we discussed doing an order and splitting it.
After the farm, we went to Marigold Nursery. Mom drifted off to the left at one point. I have no idea how she zero'd in on cranberry bushes.....she started reading the label. I asked, don't they need a bog to grow? It turns out no. I guess they are harvested with water, but not grown in water. I need to do some research, but they are a ground-cover type shrub that do not like the full sun. Wow do I have the yard for you!!!
Mom bought one too. I gave her some of my alpaca poo to put under the bush when she plants it.

8 comments:

Mark Willis said...

Erin, you want to be careful with that alpaca poo. I suspect that cranberries will dislike it. Aren't they "ericaceous", like blueberries etc? In the wild they probably thrive on soils we would consider very poor.

Gardeningbren said...

Yes, they grow wild here in nova scotia and we do try to get out to the lake most years to stock up. We once made wine from them, and it was delicious.

There is also this place, about half hour from us. Did you look there:

http://cranberryfarm.ca/

Great product.
Glad you have your own plant now!

Joan said...

Interesting - I didn't know that about cranberries!

Erin said...

I am so thankful you posted this Mark. I am going to get more AP for the flower beds and gardens, and for sure I would have put some on the blueberries and cranberries. Thank you.

Erin said...

It looks awesome. Thank you so much. They even have recipes on the site. If I don't get any this year, I'll order some. Wow. I'm set!!

Erin said...

Me neither Joan.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to hear how this works out for you.

Erin said...

I am too. I'm really excited about it. I had no idea you could grow them here. I've read a lot about them since planting and it seems that this variety is the most popular commercial variety.