Top Fast-Growing Berries for Your Garden: Easy and Productive Varieties

This past week, I achieved a BIG goal of mine! I was featured on Martha Stewart! While it was only a small mention, I have been a fan of hers since I was a young girl I am proud of this accomplishment and look forward to future opportunities. I pitched a story on fast-growing berries and was featured for raspberries, but I suggested several other fast-growing, fruiting plants that I thought I’d share. Foodscaping is an excellent choice for your landscape that serves multiple purposes—aesthetics, a food source for you, and they're also beneficial to wildlife. As a flower farmer, I'm often asked about the best crops to grow for quick and rewarding results. Fast-growing berries are a favorite of mine because they provide delicious fruit in a short amount of time. Here are my top picks for fast-growing berries:

‘Seascape’ Strawberries

I love ‘Seascape’ strawberries because they fruit during the first year. I planted these berries in a GreenStalk growing tower with FoxFarm Strawberry Fields Potting Mix, and they have already given me at least a quart of strawberries. They are everbearing, so they will continue to grow and produce fruit all summer long. Pictured here are first-year plants on their second flush of berries. As you can see, they have also put out many runners, ensuring even more bounty as the seasons go on.

‘Joan J’ Raspberries

‘Joan J’ raspberries are a family-friendly and fast-growing raspberry crop because the canes are thornless, making them easy to handle, and they produce fruit in the first year. They are everbearing, meaning they will continue to shoot up canes and produce fruit throughout the season. Depending on the length of your summer, you should get at least three batches. Another standout reason to grow ‘Joan J’ is for their foliage. Recently named “Foliage of the Year” by the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers, this multipurpose plant is a winner in my book.

Bushel and Berry Blueberries

Bushel and Berry blueberries are a great choice for fast-growing berries. Blueberry plants are fantastic to have in your garden because even when they are not producing, their beautiful foliage catches the eye. They also have value to wildlife, serving as habitat and a nectar source for specialist bees and caterpillars. The Bushel and Berry series of blueberries are sized for containers, making them perfect for those with limited space. This is particularly useful because blueberries require acidic soil, and it’s much easier to control the plant’s nutrients in a container. That being said, most Virginia soil is naturally acidic so blueberries generally grow great in the ground here too. The ‘Pink Icing’ varietal is a lovely choice that produces large blueberries and features foliage with hints of pink, green, and blue, making it the perfect food-scaping plant.

These fast-growing berry varieties not only provide delicious fruit but also add beauty and diversity to your garden. Happy planting!

Keep Blooming,

Nicole Dillon | Breemar Flower Farm | Ashland, VA