Acid loving fruits are those which need or prefer an acidic soil to grow in. Rather than starting with how to tell if your soil is acidic and what to do if it isn’t, I’d like to begin by whetting your appetite with a list of acid loving fruits.
The ones you’ve probably heard of
These fruits like a soil pH of 4 – 5
- Bilberry
- Blueberry
- Cowberry
- Cranberry
More unusual Acid loving Fruits
And those you possibly didn’t know liked an acid soil. The first two like a pH of 4-5; the rest of them a pH of roughly 5 – 6.5. Some of these are tender perennials, so will need frost free shelter or a heated greenhouse in temperate climates.
- Checkerberry
- Juniper
- Citrus
- Melon
- Mulberry – also happy with a neutral soil
- Pineapple
- Prickly pear
- Raspberry
Almost fruits
These include vegetables we treat as fruits, salads which are fruits. Their acidity range overall is pH 5 – 7
- Aubergine (eggplant)
- Rhubarb
- Sweet Pepper
- Tomato
Sort of Acid loving Fruits
These fruits like a soil where the pH is slightly acidic to slightly alkaline. So they’re happy if your soil is 6 – 6.5 but not lower than that as they do well up to a pH of 7.5
- Apple
- Pear
- Kiwi
- Grape
- Strawberry
There are other fruits which will tolerate a wide pH range but I haven’t included those for that very reason. If a Honeyberry is happy at a pH of 5 and in a soil of pH 8 then there are other things that are important to its health than soil acidity. (expect a blog on Honeyberries soon, as part of an ornamental edible garden and a forest garden)
What is Soil pH? What is Acid Soil?
Soil pH indicates how acid or alkaline the soil in a garden or a particular patch of soil is.
The pH scale reads 7 as neutral; with the low numbers 1 – 7 as an acid; whilst 7- 14 is alkaline. You may remember using the pH scale in chemistry lessons, but you may have forgotten that it is a logarithmic scale. What this means is that pH 5 is ten times more acid than pH 6.
Acid soil is also referred to an ericaceous soil or peat soil. However, not all acid soils are peat soils, there are other factors which make a soil acidic. Which is good news for the peat bogs! See the link below for our article on peat free compost. This is particularly useful for acid loving plants in pots.
Among other issues, the acidity of a soil affects how the plants are able to take up nutrients through their roots. Or to put it another way, eat healthily so they produce lots of tasty fruit so we can also eat healthily!
Acid loving Fruits – Berry Tasty
Yeah, I know, dreadful pun, sorry ? But they are tasty fruits and given the right conditions these acid soil lovers are easy maintenance and grow well in pots and raised beds. Not only that, but, you should get a decent crop from a single plant. Which makes them worth growing if you are short on space.
The berries below are all members of the Genus Vaccinium which belongs to the order Ericaceae as does the flowering Heather, another acid soil lover. There are currently over 200 recognised Vaccinium species, many of which have edible berries.
Bilberry
Bilberries, also known as blaeberries, whortleberries and Vaccinium myrtillus, are the British and European native species. Found on moorland as a low growing shrub they were once a staple food source and could be made into wine.
Their fruits are small and tasty in pies, but probably not worth growing as an edible crop in most gardens. They would be of interest in a herb garden, as the leaves were used as a cure for throat infections.
Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum, the Highbush blueberry, is the American variety most commonly used by commercial producers. There are a range of native American blueberry species, some favouring lowland areas. Cultivars of the highbush have been developed as more suitable for domestic growing as this blueberry can get to 15 foot high.
Often referred to as one of the ‘superfruits’, if you grow early, mid and late season varieties you can be eating fresh blueberries at breakfast time all summer long.
Cowberry
Foxberry, crane or cowberry, Vaccinium vitis ideae has berries which are more tart in flavour than cranberries. Both are evergreens and native to northern climates. They were sold by some unscrupulous vendors as the American cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpum, when cranberry sauce became a popular dish to accompany roast turkey in the nineteenth century.
Cranberry
Vaccinium oxycoccus, cranberry, is a low growing, ground covering shrub unlike the taller blueberry. It produces beautiful red berries with a pleasant sharp taste. One of those borderline flavours like a lemon.
Checkerberry
Checkerberry, also known as Teaberry and American wintergreen, is possibly recognisable to you as Gaultheria procumbens, an ornamental garden shrub. Native to north-eastern America, it has attractive dark green, red tinted evergreen foliage. I found the berries are tastier eaten cooked rather than raw.
Juniper
This is the berry which isn’t a berry. What we call a berry is actually the female seed cone, as Juniper is a member of the order Pinaceae. Juniper communis, a European native, has blue-green, aromatic foliage, and fruits which are a major component of gin. And in fact gave the drink its name.
Tips on Growing Acid loving Fruits
Cranberries, cowberries and checkerberries are good as ground cover plants between other ericaceous soil lovers such as Camellia and Rhododendron. A combination of these shrubs would give you an ornamental edible border if your garden has acid soil.
If you garden on an alkaline or chalky soil, then building a raised bed in which to grow these fruit bushes is a better method than separate pots for each plant. Less maintenance, for example watering, will be needed, as a good sized raised bed is quite literally a raised border rather than a pot. Water with rain water not tap water if extra irrigation is required.
Use peat free ericaceous compost, or a waste product peat based compost such as Moorland gold. See the blog below for more suggestions.
Where there’s room, I would grow cranberries separate to blueberries as the former thrive in a wetter soil. So if you do garden on an acid soil, growing cranberries in a pond border is also possible.
Not all the juniper species have berries which are worth eating; some are very bitter, even when cooked. So if you want to grow juniper as an ornamental edible plant, choose carefully.
For further ideas and tips, read the blogs below. And do get in touch if you would like lessons on gardening on acid soil or an fruit garden designed.
Related Gardening articles you may enjoy from our Award Winning Blog
Soil – the plant food in your garden
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How to Choose Apple Varieties to Grow in Your Garden or Orchard
Growing Gooseberries in Your Garden
Forced Rhubarb – Growing by Candlelight
Peat free compost – are you still confused?
