In our article we want to talk about honeysuckle. She is a very popular shrub in our gardens and gardens. The plant has a decorative appearance and is unpretentious, and it bears fruit quite early, giving berries that are rich in vitamins.
Honeysuckle Bluebird
Honeysuckle is a low shrub. The plant is quite resistant to different climatic conditions and soil types. Culture itself came to us from distant regions of Russia: Kamchatka, Magadan, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. There, from ancient times, this plant was known and was used by locals as a medicine for many diseases. Of particular value are the berries of this culture, from which delicious jam is cooked.
Currently, such shrub varieties are known: Kamchadalka, Gzhelka, Wiliga, Morena, Cinderella, Altair, Amphora, Leningradsky, Blue Bird. There are other varieties, their number reaches several tens. All of them were bred by gardeners from one progenitor.
What is honeysuckle bluebird? This is one of the varieties that came to us from Kamchatka. He quickly found his fans among gardeners. Due to its ability to adapt quickly, the plant has become very common. The honeysuckle variety Bluebird is of particular value because of its fruit. They have a sweet taste and at the same time some acidity, which is much less than in other varieties.
Perhaps this is the only plant from which you can harvest shortly after the winter period. In the month of May, you can safely feast on the blue fruits, in which there is so much ascorbic acid that they can compete with black currants.
Honeysuckle Bluebird: Description
As we already mentioned, the ancestor of all varieties is Kamchatka honeysuckle. It was from her that the Blue Bird was received. This is an early variety for universal use. The berries of the blue-black plant are fragrant and tasty with a characteristic waxy coating. Overripe fruits fall off the bushes, but are well preserved. Knowledgeable gardeners before ripening under the bushes spread some clean material to avoid damage to the crop. Culture will give birth pretty well. Productivity is 1.6 kilograms per bush.
Honeysuckle Bluebird, like other varieties, is in great need of pollinators. According to experts, other varieties of culture are best suited for this: the Blue Spindle, Kamchadalka, Cinderella, Titmouse Morena. It is believed that the most optimal option is to keep at least three varieties on one site.
The honeysuckle The blue bird is a sprawling silnorosushny bush of an oval form with rather thin branches. Young shoots have an edge, and last year's bark. The culture tolerates winter frosts and even cold weather during flowering. But the summer heat and winter thaws are not so harmless for her.
Variety Blue Spindle
Honeysuckle Blue spindle - an early ripening variety, bred by the Institute of Horticulture in Siberia named after M. Lisavenko It has been tested in pilot sites since 1980. Bushes of this variety belong to tall plants, they reach a height of one meter. Honeysuckle has a round and rather rare crown. The shoots of the plant are not edged and are colored green. Moreover, the sunny side of the sheet differs in shade from the shadow. The leaves are large oval in dark green color.
Honeysuckle Blue spindle differs from other varieties in large berries. No matter where the plant grows, the fruits will always be large and outwardly similar to a spindle. Apparently this was the idea for the name of the variety. The berries are painted in blue and blue with a strong waxy coating. The surface of the fruit itself is very dense and bumpy.
The pulp of the berries at the same time has a very delicate texture with a fresh taste. In dry weather, the fruits acquire some bitterness. Taste characteristics of berries are very different from the place of growth of the plant.
Fruits in mid-June. Blue spindle belongs to the high-yielding and early ripening varieties. From one bush you can collect from one and a half to 2.5 kilograms of berries. The culture is winter tolerant and drought tolerant, and also little susceptible to pests.
Landing and care
How is Bluebird honeysuckle bred? Planting and plant care has its own characteristics. In principle, culture itself is unpretentious. Still, you need to know some of the nuances of how to plant honeysuckle and what to do in the future to get a decent harvest. Of course, the plant itself has a decorative appearance, but for many gardeners it is berries that are of interest, therefore, yield is one of the main parameters.
Basic rules for growing crops:
- Honeysuckle bush loves sunlight.
- Once every two years, humus is certainly introduced into the soil.
- For proper growth, you should sometimes trim the shoots.
- For winter, plants should be covered.
- In the spring, when buds appear, the bushes are covered from birds with any material.
Basic crop care is reduced to following these rules. But you need to remember that, in principle, the plant is sterile, so it should be helped. Honeysuckle needs cross-pollination. Well, when there are two or three plant varieties on the plot, then the problem is solved by itself. Connoisseurs advise using special varieties of pollinators for pollination: Titmouse, Cinderella, Blue Spindle, Laura, Morena, Cinderella.
Honeysuckle Bluebird early fruiting, not susceptible to disease and not afraid of temperature changes. Nevertheless, if there is a desire to transplant a bush in the garden, it is better to wait until the end of summer. And in pots or greenhouses, you can do this in the autumn, then the roots adapt better.
Shrubs are quite durable and bear fruit for 20-30 years. The first crop of berries can be obtained after transplantation no earlier than two to three years later. Therefore, do not rely on rapid fruiting.
Preparing the soil for planting
Before planting honeysuckle, it is necessary to properly prepare the soil, since much depends on its quality and appearance. Not all household plots can boast of chernozem.
At the site of the future bush planting, it is necessary to prepare a drainage, which will facilitate the nutrition of nutrients and normal aeration. A mixture of loam and peat should be added to sandy soils. And in clay sand and peat. In addition, the application of fertilizers to any soil will not be out of place. It is good in such cases to use manure or compost from peat.
As for liming, its necessity can only be judged by the place: is it suitable for this soil or not.
Seedling acquisition and planting
When purchasing seedlings of culture, you should definitely choose plants with a height of at least thirty centimeters. At the same time, the bush should be older than three years and have a good root system. Pay attention to the fact that the plant was without signs of disease. Of course, the most acceptable option is to purchase seedlings grown in pots.
Edible honeysuckle (photo is given in the article) can be used on your site as a hedge. Keep the distance between the bushes at least half a meter. The depth of the pit during planting should be no more than forty centimeters, and sixty centimeters in diameter will be sufficient.
Each well should be fertilized and sprinkled with lime, if the soil is acidic, then fill the fertile layer and compact. After planting, the plant must be watered.
After landing care
Honeysuckle edible Bluebird after landing needs care. The bush must be watered abundantly. In the growing season, the plant is moistened from four to five times. For an adult plant, three to four buckets of water will be needed. It is better to water in the evening to avoid significant evaporation.
It is recommended to loosen the soil until about mid-summer. Only young bushes need such care. Loosening must be very careful to avoid damage to the roots. You can mulch the soil near the trunk to prevent rapid loss of moisture.
Pruning bushes
Edible honeysuckle (photo is given in the article) needs to be trimmed. This is done primarily to obtain a good harvest. Pruning makes it possible to ensure the flow of sunlight to the branches and get rid of problem shoots.
Pruning Bluebird plants has its own characteristics:
- The most suitable time for pruning the shoots is March, April, when the buds are still awake.
- Honeysuckle shoots are shortened so that they branch better later.
- Separately growing twigs should not be shortened near the soil itself, it is better to leave them about half a meter long.
- Sick shoots are subject to immediate cutting.
- As one of the measures to increase productivity, thinning of the shoots that spread on the ground can be used.
- As for young twigs, you need to leave the strongest, smoothest and healthiest.
- To rejuvenate old bushes, they are thinned out annually.
- Without the need, do not cut the tops of the shoots.
Blue Bird Variety Reviews
Among experienced gardeners, there are many admirers of the variety. Why is Bluebird honeysuckle good? Reviews of this species suggest that the plant is quite unpretentious to the soil and undemanding to climatic conditions. The main advantage of the variety is the dessert taste of berries. The plant is resistant to shedding and frost, little susceptible to frost. The disadvantages of the variety of gardeners include insufficient productivity, which you always want to increase.
It must be understood that fruiting directly depends on the quality of care and pruning. So there is always something to strive for.
Gardeners also note the decorative properties of the plant. It has beautiful greens, looks especially impressive during fruiting. Bushes can even be used as hedges.
The Blue Bird variety is chosen by those gardeners who seek to get the earliest berries on their site. This type of honeysuckle has early ripening. This means that it bears fruit before its brethren.
Disease
We have already mentioned that the Bluebird is quite resistant to various diseases. However, over time, old plants may be recruited from other residents of the garden of various diseases. Therefore, experienced gardeners prefer to process honeysuckle with Bordeaux liquid after fruiting, which is a good preventive measure against fungal diseases.
The projection of the plant’s crown should be cleaned of weeds, which also prevents damage to the bushes.
Useful properties of berries
Honeysuckle is not just an ornamental plant. It has long been valued by people for its useful properties. In folk medicine, for many centuries, honeysuckle has been used as a medicine to treat various diseases. The berries contain B vitamins, glucose, fructose, vitamins A, P, C, as well as organic acids.
As for vitamin C, it is not less in fruits than in strawberries and lemon. And in terms of mineral composition, few can compete with honeysuckle. The berries contain: copper, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, potassium.
An interesting fact is that the place of growth affects the composition of the fruit. If, for example, the bush grows in a dry climate, then the acidity decreases and the content of sugars and tannins increases, so the berries acquire a bitterness.
And growing in humid conditions increases the content of vitamin C. It is for this reason that honeysuckle grown in a temperate continental climate is so rich in monosaccharides and vitamin C.
Instead of an afterword
Honeysuckle is a good plant for the garden. It will not only decorate it, but with proper care it will give you a good harvest of berries rich in useful substances and vitamins.