Goji Berries Gone Wild!

I had never seen, eaten or heard of a goji berry until three years ago, when my husband suggested we venture to the local nursery in the hope of finding a start. As I perused the herb isle there, I surprisingly came across a 4" gojji berry plant (Lycium barbarum).

My husband is a health fanatic and I have come to learn that goji berries are highly nutritious with all that antioxidant potential any popular super- food would expect to boast. Traditional medicine holds many amazing claims about the use of this fruit, one being they are beneficial to the eyes. Modern science says that this particular claim is not entirely without merit, as this amazing super fruit is loaded with carotenoids like zeaxanthin. Another scientific discovery about this fruit is that it is loaded with an interesting precursor to vitamin C which turns into vitamin C once ingested, needless to say, a few supplement manufacturers, always on the lookout for new and novel supplements, have taken interest in this form of vitamin C which is already available for eating in the amazing goji fruit.

Despite what marketers of high priced bags of dried berries might tell you, goji berries don’t grow exclusively in the highlands of Tibet. “Goji” is simply the name given to the highland variety of lycii berry, also called wolfberry. That package of dried berries you might see selling at your local healthy grocer probably came from a lowland variety grown on a farm. The differences between the two edible varieties seem insignificant as far as eating and nutrition is concerned.

As with so many other foods, anyone interested in eating goji berries might also be interested in cultivating the plant. Well, I discovered that are quite easy to grow, a bit too easy, maybe! In some areas they have even gained the reputation as being invasive. Interestingly, the plants I obtained from my local nursery came from a cultivar not halfway around the world, but one happily growing and adapting to the Utah climate for well more than a century, growing not far from the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Willard, Utah. And how in the world did goji berries end up there? The seeds were brought by Chinese immigrants who came to Utah to help build the Transcontinental Railroad in 1881. However, the seeds were not intentionally planted but germinated after being digested by the immigrants.

Did I say easy to grow? Yes. One important thing to know, is that the plants I transplanted were quite delicate for the first few months, goji plants have extensive root systems that need lots of assistance with transplanting. Those poor transplants looked like they were about to die each and every day they didn’t get copious amounts of watering. By the time they were 12 months old, they had completely transitioned from the delicate specimen into a fierce garden competitor. By year two, they were in need of a severe pruning. Well, I chopped them to the ground and they happily came back.
So here's my synopsis: an easy to grow edible that isn't the prettiest plant around, but produces berries that chickens and health connoisseurs enjoy. Only concern I noticed is the bush seems prone to powdery mildew so overhead watering should be avoided. Oh, and I forgot to add that it has sharp thorns!

Here is a mid-summer day’s harvest from one plant we had growing in a container. Because goji bushes have an extensive root system, growing them in a container is not recommended long term. This plant had already outgrown its pot and was later transplanted into the garden.

Inconspicuous purple flowers on a bush that comes back with vigor in the spring after being chopped to the ground in the fall.