You can purchase cranberry seedlings, but if you’re thrifty and patient, you could also start them from seed. All you need is a bag of fresh berries from the grocery store and a lot of patience.
That’s all it took for Lovell gardener Kristen Haskell anyway.
She started some plants using cranberries sold by Ricker Hill Orchards in Turner this April. It takes from three to four years for a seedling to grow and bear fruit, but the wait is worth it to her.
“It was definitely a labor of love and patience,” she said. “They grew very slowly.”
Cranberries are one example of seeds that can be found at low cost in unconventional places, and a reminder of the diversity of edible plants that grow naturally in Maine. If you have some left from Thanksgiving, and several years to spare, you can give them a try yourself.
Before you do, make sure you have a suitable place to plant. Cranberries don’t need a bog to grow, but they do require sun and acidic, sandy soil that’s fairly moist. Once the plants get established, they spread in low-lying bushes by sending out runner-like roots similar to strawberries.
To start some seeds, pick them out of the inside of the fruit and lay them on a damp paper towel. Fold the towel around the seeds, place it in a plastic bag and leave it in the fridge for three months. The bag doesn’t need to be sealed, as some airflow is good for the seeds, but make sure the towel doesn’t dry out.
This takes the seeds out of dormancy and prepares them to sprout. The process is called stratification, and it mimics the seed’s time underground in the winter.
When you’re ready to plant, prepare small pots with peat-based or coconut coir soil, which will provide good drainage. Lay the seeds out, cover with a thin layer of soil and set in a warm place.
Seventy degrees is best, which you can achieve without heating up your whole house by putting a plastic covering and some light over the seed tray. Water enough to keep the soil damp, but not soggy.
Haskell started hers in small cells, then moved them to 4-inch pots with two plants in each.
If nothing’s happening, don’t worry. Haskell waited a month for the seeds to germinate. She started with 50 sprouts and 30 of them survived to be put in the ground this fall.
When they finally do emerge, you can keep them inside for up to a year. This will allow the delicate roots to get stronger and survive the shock of being transplanted.
Transplant them a month or so before the first frost about 18 inches apart in that sunny, sandy spot. You can prepare by “hardening off” the seedlings first, bringing them outside for increasing lengths of time for a week or so to introduce the new conditions gradually.
Every fall after that, mulch around the roots with sand or pine boughs to protect the roots and keep down weeds.
Four square feet produces a pound of berries at best, according to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which provides an in-depth guide to growing cranberries. But even with a small planting, you’ll be able to say you raised them yourself.
