{"id":3756,"date":"2013-02-12T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2013-02-12T17:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=3756"},"modified":"2013-01-31T11:23:04","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T16:23:04","slug":"pink-lemonade-blueberry-will-delight-your-taste-buds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2013\/02\/12\/pink-lemonade-blueberry-will-delight-your-taste-buds\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Pink Lemonade’ Blueberries Will Delight Your Taste Buds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Luscious pink fruits ready to eat in late July<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pink Lemonade blueberry (Vaccinium<\/em> x \u2018Pink Lemonade\u2019) is a new variety introduction from the USDA. It combines the benefits of growing a beautiful landscape plant and one that produces a tasty crop of pinkish red blueberries. Pink Lemonade is also very winter hardy (USDA hardiness zone 4).\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Select a sunny location, preferably with an eastern or northern exposure. Ground prep should begin at least\u00a0one year ahead of planting date to lower the pH (recommend 4.5 \u2013 5.5 range) and to raise\u00a0the organic level of the soil.\u00a0 The ground must also be\u00a0well-drained\u00a0and compost-rich. Reduce weeds with frequent soil\u00a0tillage and\/or applying herbicides according to label directions.<\/p>\n

Attractive\u00a0pinkish-white, bell-shaped flowers\u00a0open in the spring.\u00a0 Fruits\u00a0ripen to a\u00a0deep pink color in mid to late July in the Southern Appalachian region (USDA hardiness zones 6 and 7). Blueberry leaves have an attractive glossy green cast and exhibit few disease and insect problems. In\u00a0autumn leaves turn bright orange\u00a0to deep red color and fruit stems are bright red at the start of winter.<\/p>\n

Pink Lemonade is vigorous, reaching 4 to 5 feet in height and width.\u00a0The medium-sized, glossy, bright pink\u00a0blueberries ripen in\u00a0late season compared to other varieties.\u00a0Berries have a\u00a0mild\u00a0sweet flavor with good fruit firmness.<\/p>\n

Many gardeners cover plants with netting as harvest time nears and the birds\u00a0invade the blueberry planting.\u00a0In late summer remove the netting to allow the hungry birds and other\u00a0wildlife to consume unharvested fruits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wait two years for the blueberry plants to establish before producing the first crop. Space blueberry bushes 5 to 7 feet apart in rows 8 feet apart. Mulch with 3 to 4 inches of sawdust, wood chips or pine needles to maintain soil acidity and retain moisture.<\/p>\n

Plants are shallow rooted and should be irrigated regularly, particularly if natural rainfall amounts are low. Feed plants in late winter with 10-10-10 or equivalent fertilizer @ 2 lbs per 100 square feet. Blueberries are pruned in late winter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Pink Lemonade blueberry (Vaccinium x \u2018Pink Lemonade\u2019) is a new variety introduction from the USDA. It combines the benefits of growing a beautiful landscape plant and one that produces a tasty crop of pinkish red blueberries. Pink Lemonade is also very winter hardy (USDA hardiness zone 4).\u00a0 Select a sunny location, preferably with an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,681,605,674,665,599,853,551,627,791,202,843,601,630,705,1,113,819],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3756"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3756"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4598,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3756\/revisions\/4598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}