I laughed so hard the other day when one of our ‘neighbours’ Trisha stopped by and commented on how man different types of berries we are growing in and around the homestead. I mean we have everything from elderberries, to raspberries, mulberries, gooseberries, strawberries, blueberries and even started growing acai berries this year too. They say variety is the spice of life, which I truly believe that is why I was asking her for a quick lesson on how to grow goji berries too.

Goji berries (Lycium barbarum) also known as wolfberry are originally from China and therefore they tend to be cold hardy. This nutrient rich berry often labelled a superfood has many health benefits. Each berry is loaded with vitamins as well as minerals like vitamin C, vitamin A, zinc and iron. There also have antioxidants, complex carbs, amino acids and a surprisingly high protein yield. They can be grown from seeds but will take longer to fruit, than if propogated from cuttings.

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Here’s What You’ll Need:

goji berry seeds or seedlings
compost
manure
all purpose fertilizer
peat moss
mulch
tomato cage or trellis (optional)

When growing goji berries, you are going to need some loose organic rich and acidic soil as well as a sunny location that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight everyday. Working some manure and organic compost into the area you want to plant your berries will work just fine. As far as fertilizer is concerned, you can apply an all purpose fertilizer that will provide all the nutrients required by the plant to grow. They are also drought tolerant, water only when needed and don’t forget to apply mulch.

Since this plant is a perennial that produces fruit, naturally most gardeners would expect it to prune it at some point. However, this is not the case, since the fruit grows all along the whole stem and on all new growth, pruning will most likely reduce your fruit production. I would just top off the stems once they have reached a certain point and remove any death growth. Another option would be to add a tomato cage or trellis, and tie the branches to it if the plant grows too tall. Or you can plant them around your chicken coop, and they will provide a natural enclousure for your chickens.

You can get more information on the Hip Homestead blog, here…