Grow Goji Berries In Your Garden

You can grow Goji berries in your home garden instead of buying berries imported from overseas.

Goji berries grow well in containers and in your garden soil. In our video Tricia plants them both ways.

Goji berries fit easily into your garden, since you can grow them in or out of containers, prune them as bushes, or train them on trellises. Goji berries don't like acid soil. If you live in an area where rhododendrons and camellias thrive, then you probably have slightly acid soil.

Check your soil pH; a number under 7 is more acidic and over 7 is more alkaline. If you have acid soil you can add oyster shell to make it more alkaline or simply grow the Goji berries in containers with more neutral, pre-mixed, organic potting soil.

There are lots of reasons to grow goji berries. High in antioxidants, they can also be a pretty addition to your garden with their purple flowers followed by red-orange fruits. The Goji berry variety that we carry is almost thornless, which makes picking the berries a pleasure.

If you don't polish off all the berries out in your garden, and some make it back to your kitchen, you can use their sweet and tart flavor to add zing to cereal, breads, muffins, salads, and drinks.

Dry Goji berries and use them like raisins, for snacking and cooking. Here are Goji berries, ready to go into an Excalibur dehydrator. Dehydrating or freezing are the preferred ways to preserve these delicate berries. Don't forget the leaves, which have even more antioxidants than the berries.

Goji berry plants lose their leaves in the fall, so be sure to pick them before the first frost. Use them fresh as a savory addition to stir fries or salads, or dry them in a dehydrator. The dried leaves can also be crushed for a powder.

Bring drought-tolerant Goji berries into your home garden and bring more antioxidants to your table.