Grow your small fruits in pots

Anyone can grow small fruits, even those who do not have a yard! Here are three small but very productive fruit-bearing shrubs you can grow in containers on your patio or roof. This summer, try your hand at potted blueberries and raspberries!

"Raspberry: Raspberry Shortcake™
(Rubus idaeus Raspberry Shortcake™)"

This small raspberry produces an abundance of delicious fruits towards the middle of summer, and its stems are thornless, which makes harvesting even easier. This fruit-bearing shrub has a compact shape, being about 80 cm in height and 60 cm in width. Hardy in zone 5, it will quite easily resist southeastern Canadian winters, especially if grown in a fabric container (Smart Pot).

"Haskap ‘Boreal Blizzard’
(Lonicera caerulea var. edulis ‘Boreal Blizzard’)"

The haskap is a very original small fruit resembling the blueberry, but with a cylindrical, more elongated shape. Its taste reminds of both blueberry and raspberry. The haskap is the first small fruit you can harvest as it reaches maturity towards the end of spring, just before strawberries! As it is not self-fertile, you'll need to grow a male plant with female plants. Haskap ‘Boreal Blizzard’ is a very hardy shrub: it can easily survive winter temperatures as low as – 45 °C (– 45 °F) ! Perfect for gardeners who live in northern regions!

"Blueberry Jelly Bean™
"(Vaccinium corymbosum Jelly Bean™)

If you can only grow one fruit-bearing shrub this summer, I highly recommend that you choose Blueberry Jelly Bean™. This small shrub, specifically developed for container production, produces an abundance of fruits with numerous properties. It prefers light and moist acidic soils that drain well. Provided you add a little sulfur powder to acidify it a bit, a peat/compost-based soil will do the trick.

Par Albert Mondor, horticulturist