David W.E. Roberts wrote:

: "Bigus" wrote in message
: ...
: Hi
:
: I am thinking of attempting to grow bilberries (not blueberries) in my
: back
: garden in Oxfordshire.
: snip
: AFAIK they do not crop very heavily on a 'per plant' basis - at least not in
: the wild.
: If you want a useable crop instead of just an interesting specimen plant I
: think you will need a very large bed.
: I guess this is why most people grow blueberries instead.

A several years back there was a similar thread on sci.agriculture.fruit
and a Czech guy advised growing an edible bushy Lonicera as a bilberry
substitute, he even sent me some seed, but never told me the species.
Unfortunately I've lost touch with him. But a google search last year
found references to Lonicera Kamchatika, some USA nurseries are offering
some named varieties and are calling it "Honeyberry".

The berries are black and an oval kidney shape, are ripe at end of may
early june, and the are a bit reminiscent of bilberries. The bushes are ok
in my garden which if anything is slightly alkaline. They took a few years
from seed to get to fruit production and last year I managed to collect
about 500g of fruit from 6 bushes - hardly huge quantities. I'm hoping
there will be more this year. The fruit is bitter if picked too early.

I'm not entirely sure how best to propagate - one bush appears to be
superior in fruit size and number than the others. I'll need to try
cuttings etc.

cheers
Jim