[SusieB]

Which is more useful - bilberry or cranberry?  Or should I grow both?

[KellyPriest]

I think it's a matter of personal tastes than anything else. Both are good. Anyway, if you want opinions - I would go for cranberries. I just like them.

[ptarmigan]

I like Bilberries (or wild blueberries/whortleberries/blaeberries) but you'd have to have quite a lot of plants to pick enough for a pie. They are the most delicious things when cooked.  They grow wild on the moors round where I live and its backbreaking work picking enough for a pie. 

[BabbyAnn]

I like Bilberries (or wild blueberries/whortleberries/blaeberries) but you'd have to have quite a lot of plants to pick enough for a pie. They are the most delicious things when cooked.  They grow wild on the moors round where I live and its backbreaking work picking enough for a pie.

I'm a bilberry fan too - if there wasn't enough berries picked, they'd go into an apple & bilberry pie instead 

[ptarmigan]

I made 2 small crumbles last time (in ramekins) and they were the most delicious thing ever.  There's something about pure bilberries!  I'd love to have the patience to pick enough to make some jam.

[JayG]

They are very different types of berries of course, but the biggest difference of all for me would be the fact that cranberries are quite productive and can even be grown in containers, whereas you would really need an entire hillside to harvest a decent number of bilberries, as others have already noted (you also need to get there first - yes, been there, had the tiny bowl of berries followed by a Radox bath!  )

I grow blueberries instead, which some may consider to be a poor relation in terms of taste, but are much more productive than the native bilberry in a limited space.

[SusieB]

Thank you everyone.  I think I will grow both.  Cranberries for Christmas, and bilberries for a tiny taste of what you lot have talked about!

[Goosegirl]

It also depends on whether you like purple or red custard! 

[andimac]

I read recently that given the plants like the same conditions, one option would be to grow blueberries (which are in bush form) with cranberries in the same space forming ground cover. Has anyone tried this?