{"id":952,"date":"2025-11-18T11:46:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T10:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/?p=952"},"modified":"2025-11-18T12:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T11:30:00","slug":"growing-blueberries-why-acid-soil-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/growing-blueberries-why-acid-soil-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Blueberries \u2014 why acid soil matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/164\/2025\/11\/blueberries-on-plant.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-979\" srcset=\"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/164\/2025\/11\/blueberries-on-plant.jpg 650w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/164\/2025\/11\/blueberries-on-plant-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/164\/2025\/11\/blueberries-on-plant-520x347.jpg 520w, https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/164\/2025\/11\/blueberries-on-plant-320x214.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blueberries are delicious, attractive and great for wildlife \u2014 but they\u2019re fussy about soil. They\u2019ll reward you with the best crops when planted into <strong>acid, well-drained, organic soil<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key points<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>pH:<\/strong> Aim for an acid soil (roughly pH 4.5\u20135.5). If your soil is neutral or alkaline, grow blueberries in raised beds or pots filled with ericaceous (acid) compost and plenty of leaf-mould. GardenAdvice notes that blueberries \u201crequire acidic soil\u201d and should be planted in ericaceous compost where soils are not acidic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Planting:<\/strong> Space bushes ~1\u20131.2 m apart, use a planting hole filled with a mix of native soil + ericaceous compost + well-rotted manure, and mulch with leaf-mould to keep roots cool and acidic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mulch &amp; feed:<\/strong> Maintain a 5\u20138 cm mulch layer of ericaceous material each year and avoid alkaline mulches (eg spent mushroom compost) around blueberries. GardenAdvice\u2019s acid-loving plant notes are a useful reference.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Want an easy how-to for planning fruit &amp; veg? See GardenAdvice\u2019s fruit &amp; veg guide: <a href=\"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/blog\/grow-your-own-fruit-veg\/\">https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/blog\/grow-your-own-fruit-veg\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blueberries are delicious, attractive and great for wildlife \u2014 but they\u2019re fussy about soil. They\u2019ll reward you with the best crops when planted into acid, well-drained, organic soil. Key points Want an easy how-to&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gardening-notes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenadvice.co.uk\/ali\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}