Your Guide to Growing Fruits in Your Garden
Not sure if you need to feed your fruits? Start by getting to know your soil. The best way of evaluating your ground is to have a soil test done. Most university cooperative extension services provide this service for a fee. Some commercial garden centers and professional soil testing laboratories do so as well.
You might be tempted to add more fertilizer than the packaging instructions recommend, but resist the urge. Overfertilization can burn plant roots, causing injury to the plant. Fruiting trees and shrubs that get excess fertilizer, especially nitrogen, may flower and produce less than plants that are not overfertilized.
Test Garden Tip: In many regions you may need to acidify the soil to grow blueberries. Adding elemental sulfur to the soil will lower the pH, making the soil more acidic. Use your soil-test results to tell you what your soil's current pH is, then use the instructions on the sulfur bag to determine how much you need to add for your blueberries.
Continued on page 6: Insect Control
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