Cranberry

The cranberry is evergreen and gets through the winter in the lowlands of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the bed without protection. A layer of mulch keeps the soil evenly moist. In a container, place the pot sheltered against the house wall, insulate it from the outside and water only on frost-free days; more dangerous than winter are late frosts, which in prolonged frost you keep off the flowers with horticultural fleece.

The most reliable ways to propagate cranberries are these three. Cuttings (July/August): cut semi-ripe shoots 8 to 10 cm long, insert them about 5 cm deep in peat-based seed compost (pH 4.5 to 5.5) and keep the soil evenly moist. Covering with film or a mini greenhouse raises the humidity and clearly improves rooting success. Be patient, because cranberry cuttings root rather slowly. Layering (June/July): bend a low, still flexible shoot down to the ground, fix it with a stone or a staple and cover the middle of the shoot with soil. Once the layer has formed roots of its own after a few weeks, separate it from the parent plant and replant it. Runners: mature cranberry plants produce creeping ground runners that root by themselves at the nodes as soon as they touch the soil. You can cut these rooted runners off with scissors in spring or autumn and plant them in a new spot. What matters is that the new site is kept moist until the plant has established. For all methods: cranberries need acidic soil (pH 4.5 to 5.5) and do not like drought. Sowing is not worthwhile in the home garden: the seedlings turn out very uneven, germinate unreliably and need many years to the first harvest.