Hej vehve
I have been hunting down lingnon berry plants here, in addition to the blueberries. I grew up eating lingon berries on swedish pancakes, pankakas. Recently I learned that the lingnon has far better nutrients than the American cranberry. Only a few pine trees on the property but peat can be used to augment the acidity. I have been eying a low lying boggy area for years-- maybe it is too wet, and it certainly needs more light.
As for the blueberries, we have farily acid soils in my region, known for blueberrries here in the New England. I too have loads of wild blue berries n the woods. HD says once we remove more trees and let in more sunlight they will grow better and fruit better. I prefer the wild berries as they are better for us with more anti-cancer ingredients, and well, the flavor is 1000 times better than any cultivated blue berry.
Hmm, lingonberry on pannkaka, that one I haven't tried. I usually don't use lingonberry with sweet things, but that might be worth a try. (Du verkar ha svensk bakgrund?) In my experience both lingon- and bluberries do well in slightly boggy, wet areas. In summer we get a bit longer days in Finland than you do in New England, so the light might not hurt, as long as you don't change the soil too much. It can be a bit difficult to replicate the right climate. You don't really see much blueberries growing without the trees around them here.
Bushgrown blueberries aren't worth anything in my opinion, really watery taste, and I can just walk 10 meters from the door and start picking wild ones when they're in season. If only I could trick the better half to fill our freezer with them, I'm a bit of a lazy picker myself. Sure I can gather enough for a pie, but larger quantities, not so much. Besides, the dogs always clean up the spots I start gathering from much faster than me.
I haven't found cranberries here, but we have some bogs near our summer cottage where they grow nicely, don't know how the Finnish variety stacks up against the Merkan one, but it's usually considered quite nutritious. And sour as heck, as are the lingonberries.
I can snap a picture of what kind of forest the bluberries like for you when I take the dogs for a walk. We have a bit colder than usual weather right now, so they haven't ripened yet, but it should improve their taste once they start to be ready in a few weeks. Last year you could find loads still in September, and even October, so the season for picking is pretty long when weather is favorable.
