Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)
Cranberry (Vaccinium
macrocarpon)
Known for it's health giving properties, the cranberry is currently very popular in the form of juices and dried fruits.
The cranberry
does have a need for a very moist acid soil, but inspite of that it seems to do quite well in containers if kept well watered (with rain water if possible). It does best in full sun and having a very prostrate habit it scrambles and roots where it goes. decorative too with it's pretty pale pink flowers and dark red fruits.
Ours are the wild American type, cultivated forms can now be got quite easily in some garden centers, but we find ours are hardy and pest resistant producing reasonable sized fruit. In America they are harvested in the autumn with a sort of large wooden comb, or on a commercial scale the beds are flooded and the fruit somehow floated away and corralled. We can usually pick all we need for a bit of jelly and juice, or a source by hand but it is a bit fiddly.