Garden Guy: Tips for growing your own berries in Minnesota

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - FOX 9’s Garden Guy Dale K has tips for growing berries successfully, which can help you save money at the grocery store. 

The key to growing berries is soil preparation. All types of berries like well-drained soil that’s rich in organic matter. Some great options include peat moss (it’ll help loosen compacted soil), dairy cow manure, and coop poop. There are other good fertilizers that are specially made for berries. 

There are a lot of different types of berries you can plant in your own backyard. Some options for berries and small fruits to plant include grapevines, including Minnesota-developed varieties; raspberries; blueberries, which are a great landscape plant, but you do need cross-pollination with them; honeysuckle; and arctic kiwi, which is very hardy.

Blueberries do like acidic soils. To lower your soil pH, try soil sulfur. To find out your pH levels, you can buy a soil test kit from your local garden store. 

It’s also important to keep some netting on hand because birds and other creatures will want to get at your berries.