I’m already thinking about Thursday’s meal – turkey and dressing and of course cranberry sauce. Cranberries are native to North America. They grow naturally in peat bogs in the Northeast part of the US and up into Canada. Growing cranberries commercially is big business. You’ll find most commercial producers in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington.
Growing cranberries at home will take real dedication. (My trusty fruit book doesn’t even list them as an option!) You’ll need to create your own peat bog, digging out our mineral soil and replacing it with bales of peat moss. You’ll need to provide ample water during the growing season. Make sure you have plenty of water available in winter, since you may need to flood your bed for winter protection.
Cranberry plants grow as an evergreen groundcover that produces 6 foot runners. Each runner then produces upright stems which flower and fruit. Cranberries need soils high in organic matter which have good drainage and never dry out. Related to blueberries, they also need soil with a low pH (hence the peat). Cranberries are hardy to zone 2 – as long as they are covered with water in the winter.
Commercially, cranberries are grown in bogs that can be flooded as needed for winter protection. The bogs are also flooded for harvesting. The vines float in water, bringing fruit to the surface where it can be loosened from the vine. The floating berries are then corralled and collected. Because the plants are perennial and the bog soil is never disturbed, it’s not rare to find a 75 year old cranberry bed still in production. You can learn more about cranberries at http://www.umass.edu/cranberry/cranberry/seasons.shtml.
