Since many imported goji berries are unfortunately contaminated with pesticides and other pollutants, the berry, which is particularly valued in Asia, is now also widely cultivated in Germany. With the right plant variety, you can soon look forward to the first harvest from your own garden, even on poor soil.

Goji berries are harvested in autumn

The right time for the harvest

Goji berries usually bear fruit for the first time as a three-year-old shrub in a sunny and warm location. If a wolfberry bush does not bloom at all, then the plant is usually either too young or it is an offshoot of a poorly fruiting wild variety. After flowering, it takes about August or September until the bright orange-red fruits are ready for harvest. In general, these should not be picked from the bush too early, so that the somewhat tart and sometimes bitter-tasting berries get at least some sweetness. In any case, late-ripening goji berries should be harvested before the first night frosts in autumn can be expected.

Care and pruning make harvesting easier

The so-called buckthorn or Teufelszwist is not popular with all hobby gardeners due to its sprawling growth habit. Several specimens should be planted in the garden bed at a sufficient distance from each other and prevented from uncontrolled propagation by barriers such as a rhizome barrier. Goji berries should be cut back regularly, otherwise they tend to form very long, overhanging branches. The long shoots can also be tied up like blackberries and raspberries, which makes it easier to harvest the ripe berries later.

Enjoy goji berries in different ways after harvesting

Goji berries can be consumed in different ways:

  • fresh from the bush
  • dried
  • frozen and processed into ice cream or smoothies
  • as juice
  • as an ingredient in bread, cakes, soups and sauces
  • mixed with cherries or other berries as an ingredient for jam

For fresh consumption, goji berries should be picked more carefully from the bush. For reasons of appearance and shelf life, it can also make sense to pick the berries together with the green stalk and only remove this immediately when eating. You have to be less cautious if the berries are going to be processed into juice or dried afterwards anyway.

tips

As a rule, not all goji berries on a bush ripen at the same time. You can therefore harvest them with a time delay, as soon as the respective fruits are perceived as sufficiently ripe based on their color and consistency.

Category:

Vegetable garden