How to Plant Huckleberries

Start plants indoors about 6 to 8 weeks before frost free weather in your area. Plant 3 or 4 seeds per 2-inch starter pot. Cover the seeds with ¼ inch of fine soil and keep warm until germination occurs, in about two weeks.

Thin to the strongest plant in each pot when the seedlings are 1 1/2 to 2 inches high.

Grow seedlings under fluorescent grow lights, keeping the lights only 3 or 4 inches above the tops of the plants. Raise the lights as the plants grow.

Harden plants off by placing them outdoors in the shade beginning when they are four weeks old, and when temperatures are above freezing. Leave outdoors for a longer period of time each day. Gradually move them into full sun until they are outdoors all the time. Bring them indoors if the weather is forecast to dip below freezing.

Transplant to garden after all danger of frost is past, at about the same time you plant tomatoes. Plant huckleberries in full sun and rich garden soil.

Improve your soil by adding compost. Add one shovel of compost every 18 to 24 inches in the row where you will plant the huckleberries. Dig small holes about 18 to 24 inches apart in the compost and make the rows 2 to 3 feet apart. Plant huckleberries a little deeper than they were growing in the pots. (You should see less of the main stem after transplanting.)

Cultivate huckleberries as you would tomatoes. Provide at least an inch of water per week. Weed them well. Feed them every other week with an all-purpose liquid fertilizer.