Small fruits like blueberries, grapes, raspberries and currants can be a great addition to South Dakota gardens, as they take up less space than fruit trees, and are easy to grow.
Erik Helland of Landscape Garden Center in Sioux Falls says raspberries are a great plant to start with.
“Raspberries are one of those fun plants that it's, there's a lot of plant there and it doesn't take much for it to just take over a whole site, but there's red and black. I would suggest doing is growing different colors, different varieties. What that does is it gives you fruits that are going to be harvested at different times and maybe for a longer period. Some plants are only going to be available for a month, and then you're done. You're empty. I would suggest using different varieties of the same species.”
“Blueberries are probably going to be the most difficult of any of them and the hardest to grow. The reason being is that they are going to need a different mix of soil. They need to be very well drained and more acid types of soil. Now it doesn't mean that you can't grow them. It's just going to have to be done a different way. And what I would suggest in that is removing a lot of the dirt and then adding a lot of peat moss with it and making sure that it's well-drained and never, ever sitting in a pool of water.”
“Remember, you're going to need mostly sun for all of these. The more sun, the more fruit. The less sun, the less fruit. You might have a lot of foliage, but you may not get a lot of fruit. Make sure the soil is well-drained and make sure that you don't have any grass or other plants in competition in the area you are growing your fruit.”
If you have questions for Erik Helland, send them to: [email protected]. He may answer your question on-the-air during the South Dakota Home Garden segment, Wednesdays on SDPB Radio's "In the Moment."