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Small fruits offer great taste, health benefits
Arkansas
Whether your interest lies in blackberries, blueberries or other small fruits, it's time to get serious about spring plantings.
Small fruits offer gardeners, even in small spaces, the opportunity to produce a surprising volume of high quality fruit. If "bragging rights" are your goal, the Arkansas-developed Kiowa variety offers an opportunity to produce the world's largest blackberry, said Robert Seay, Benton County agent-staff chair with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service.
Many of these berries, he said, weigh one-ounce, which makes them a "two-biter."
Health specialists across the United States continue to recognize a number of small fruits as being one of the best sources of antioxidants, which fight cell-damaging, cancer-promoting free radicals in the human body.
"So, gardeners can have the best of both worlds by growing a good-tasting fruit, which fights cancer and other illnesses," Seay said.
Dr. Jim Robbins, extension horticulturist, said scientists believe that the darker the color pigment of the fruit, the more antioxidants it contains.
"Blueberries and red grapes, for instance, are excellent sources of antioxidants," he said.
Seay said ease of production and fruit volume make blackberries a winner for home gardens.
"Now that the U of A has also released the thornless, large-fruited, good tasting Apache variety, gardeners can have blackberries without 'owiees,' as kids often call the thorns," he said.
Robbins said another good fruit for home gardeners is the muscadine, which is a "hugely popular small fruit in Arkansas, and they're fairly easy to grow."
Blackberries, blueberries and strawberries can be grown successfully in Arkansas, according to Seay. Raspberries prefer the cooler climate of north Arkansas.
Seay said many area nurseries and garden centers can provide, or obtain, recommended varieties. However, do your homework and learn establishment and variety genetic potential before putting any plant in the ground this March.
Information on the establishment and production of small fruits, as well as sources of recommended varieties is as close as your county extension office or the extension Web site at www.uaex.edu. Then click on Home and Garden, Fruits and Small Fruits.
To view a list of excellent extension fruit publications that are available at your county extension office, go to: www.uaex.edu. Click on Publications, then UACES Searchable Publications Database. Just type the name of the fruit you're interested in and hit Go.
The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture.
Date: 2/21/05
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