Goji berries (Lycium barbarum) are a popular ‘superfood’ to eat fresh or dried. Native to China, they’re packed with vitamins and antioxidants and have been used in Chinese medicine for over a thousand years. They’re easy to grow at home in the UK and bear fruit after just one or two years. The best thing about growing your own goji berries is that you can eat them straight from the bush – most commercially available goji berries are dried.
Other names for the goji plant are Chinese box thorn, wolfberry, and the Duke of Argyll’s tea plant. The third Duke of Argyll was a keen collector of exotic plants and received a specimen of goji berry from China in 1727. The berries can indeed be used for making tea, as well as having many other uses – here in the UK we tend to add them to porridge or muesli, where they add a sweet but slightly tart flavour.
Goji berry bush is deciduous and grows to between 1.5 and 3.5m high, often with a wider spread, depending on the variety. Funnel-shaped purple flowers are borne in summer in the leaf axils of arching, spiny stems. These are followed by elongated, orange fruits from late summer to autumn.
How to grow a goji berry plantGrow goji berry plant in full sun or partial shade, in reasonably fertile soil. Keep watered during dry spells for the first year, until well established. Harvest fruit in late summer and autumn as soon as it is ripe. Prune annually in early spring and, if grown on a support, train in the thorny stems regularly.
Where to grow goji berryUnusually for a fruit bush, goji berry plant stands up to windy sites and exposed coastal locations, as well as thriving in more favourable sites. While goji berry plant is suitable to grow as a free-standing bush or as a hedge, it’s
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