Although I do not buy from them exclusively, I do like looking at Territorial Seed Company:
In addition to being family-owned, they are very much focused on this area and heirloom varieties. That is important for me.
Recently they had an offer for your own blueberry patch. You could get six each of three different varieties for under three hundred dollars.
I did not question the value of the offer or the enjoyment my household would get from having a blueberry patch in the backyard. However, berry bushes take a while to establish. We would not get a great harvest this year.
My efforts this year are largely being inspired by this disaster of a government and all of the many things that can go wrong, without knowing which things will go wrong and how soon.
There is some speculation that Trump will declare a state of emergency on April 20th to cement his control, kind of a Reichstag Fire scenario.
I don't know that I really expect that. Mainly, I think about how some people celebrate April 20th; talk about harshing their mellow!
If it does happen, it does not matter what I plant, nothing would be ready to harvest then.
It would also not hurt that I had planted it. It might make it even more valuable that I planted it.
My point is not to depress or discourage you, but to remind you that we don't know the future; we somehow have to make peace with that.
If we are looking at fruit trees or bushes, expect those to take longer to establish.
I have grown strawberries from seeds, once upon a time. I got strawberries in the second year.
That can be fine, but starting with strawberry plants is much faster. Consider what you are doing.
If you are planting a tree, you probably are waiting at least three years for fruit. You will probably also reach a point where it produces a lot of fruit for a long time without too much maintenance. That just doesn't happen with asparagus.
You also need to think about location. Roots will extend and might cause sidewalks to buckle or branches might mess with your gutters, based on location. You need to make sure there are no pipes or lines underneath before you even get started.
I would gladly plant blueberries in the ground; now they say you don't even have to do too much with augmenting the soil acidity (which I would definitely research more before doing). However, if I am am going to grow blackberries, I know how those spread and they are going to have to be contained. As a harvesting preference, I would not want strawberries in the ground, but on a pyramid or gutters or something.
You also need to think about pollination. For example, there are three categories of blueberries: ones that bloom early, mid-season, and late. Mid-season can cross-pollinate with any, but if you have one early bush and one late bush, there's a good chance you are not going to get any berries.
That means there are things to think about that don't come up with a vegetable patch. There are adorable things too, like learning that there are Romeo cherries and Juliet cherries and the reason they have those names is that even though the fruit is different, both trees produce better when they are planted near each other.
(Which may not be that faithful to the play, but that's a completely separate issue.)
I don't mind that sometimes you are doing things that take work and planning and time to pay off. If I couldn't handle that, I would drop out of my Master's program.
However, sometimes there are things you are ready for and things you are not ready for.
This year I am only planning on planting annuals, where I should be able to expect everything to die after a good frost. It is lower stakes and lower commitment. I will figure out the next year after that.
It is wonderful to have many options. Trying them all at once is not as wonderful.
And you still need to be okay with the possibility of failure:
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