Something that pretty much everyone can agree on is that fresh fruit is wonderful. The feeling of picking a berry off a bush or tree and popping it in your mouth is delightful, and some could argue that it tastes better than store-bought.

And there’s a way to get an amazing blueberry bush in your backyard, for next to nothing.

This helpful tip is brought to you by MIgardener, a YouTuber who is passionate about gardening and sustainability. His tips are pretty helpful and he wants to make sure that you create a proper garden even during the modern era.

MIgardener uses this video to show how the average person can grow a blueberry bush in their backyard, just by using store-bought blueberries, a blender, water, paper towels, and a ziplock. It’s a super easy way to have a sustainable and constant source of this wonderful fruit.

Before we show you how it’s done, be aware that if you live in the United States, you should only try this with American blueberries.

And that is because U.S. law says that all imported berries must be radiated before being sold to consumers. The benefit of this law is that it means that all the pest on imported berries will be killed off, thus minimizing any invasive species, but the downside is that it makes the seeds of the berries unable to reproduce.

So, if you attempt this while living in the United States, just make sure that you are using American-grown berries.

Freeze the blueberries before beginning this.

Blueberries are perennials, meaning that they are a plant that can live longer than one or two years. In fact, blueberry bushes typically live 50 years; so to ensure a long and healthy lifespan for your plant, you should simulate winter for your seeds before planting them.

Keep your berries in the freezer for about three weeks and you should be good to go! This tricks the berries into thinking that winter has come and gone, and that it’s time for them to reproduce and grow again.

Blend those berries up!

After ensuring that your berries are American-grown (if you are in America) and getting those seeds ready to reproduce, the next step is to blend the berries. Put them in a blender with water and blend for 10 minutes. This causes the seeds to separate from the rest of the berry and fall to the bottom.

This also makes it easy to extract the seeds from this mixture, because you will strain the liquid out of the blender, leaving behind only the seeds. The seeds are too small to be damaged by your blender so they should be perfectly fine to plant!

Before you go throwing the seeds into some ground, create a seedbed from some simple household materials.

Literally, the materials you need for this are just paper towels, a ziploc bag, and some water. Fold the paper towels to make it nice and thick inside the bag and then add water so that the whole paper towel is wet but not dripping liquid.

Now it’s time to put the blueberry seeds into the seedbed.

Try to get an even spread of seeds all over the paper towel. It helps if you use a spoon or your hands and spread the seeds all over the towel’s surface. Then, you seal the bag up and put it somewhere dark and warm, like a pantry or a laundry room.

Give it 2-3 weeks and then, voila!

In about 2-3 weeks your seeds will start to sprout in their seedbed. When that happens, move them to a potting mix that is soilless. A soilless potting mix will include things like peat or wood chips.

With this step done you have your own blueberries growing for the price of a store-bought box of berries! This is a fun, at home hack to try out for yourself and marvel at the berries growing in your house.

To see the whole hack for yourself, watch the video below.

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Source: MIgardener, University of Maine, Upstart Farmers