Blueberries!
Folks,
Not to be missed, you can pick fresh blueberries in our neighborhood starting now! High bush or low bush, just pick them by hand and eat them, or use a blueberry rake if there are a lot of them.
The Outer Cape fields a crowded roster of native plants ending in -berry. I’ve linked a few images from our yard in this post.
Bearberry, a characteristic roadside ground cover, should be propagated wherever you have it. Know it by its small, dark green leaves, prostrate habit, and woody stems; give it dry soil and full sun, and try not to walk on it.
Bayberry is another indispensable favorite. It spreads prolifically in bright sun via a network of underground suckers, but also tolerates some shade. You can trim it into a bushy hedge or allow it to become tall and architectural. Know it by its soft, bright green leaves, fragrant when crushed, and small clusters of late-season berries - valuable winter food for our bird and animal friends.
Huckleberry is a true friend to the native gardener. Easily mistaken for low-bush blueberry, its leaves are a bit lighter green, slightly curved at the end, pointing up rather than out. Hard, yellow nodules ripen into dark purple berries - a bit later and noticeably glossier than their blueberry cousins, but equally delicious. Huckleberry is a good citizen, taking to shearing and shaping if you want to achieve a uniform, coastal meadow look with blockbuster fall colors.
Now is a great time to walk around and identify blueberry sources in your yard. Two main varieties adorn the Outer Cape: High bush, with large, glossy leaves on arched branches, and low bush, with dark green, pointy leaves, easily mistaken for (and often overtaken by) huckleberry. Low bush varieties are happy at the edges of paths, but also provide a nice ground cover.
Blueberries thrive on an underground root system that Native Americans used to maintain using controlled burns (not recommended in Cranberry Hill). You can buy plugs at the garden center, but all you really need to do is cut down a grove of pitch pines, create some sunshine, and watch the blueberry roots push growth up to the surface, along with some huckleberry and bayberry.
If you don’t know whether something is a blueberry, and are also not sure it is a huckleberry, don’t eat it!
When you can finally collect enough ripe blueberries to fill your hand, and they taste “blue” rather than tart, it’s time to go and get the colander and pick enough to make something. If you have too many, freeze them to enjoy later on with your morning cereal.
Happy picking!