BlueBerries at Twilight: Take Two...

Blueberries at Twilight

2012- Take Two

Friday, I finally made the time to rework last year's first attempt at growing blueberries here at Twilight. 

In 2011, I had dug out the entire area and mixed in some compost, top soil, peat moss into the native soil. The blueberries had been shipped out from a specialist farm in MO - some Rabbit Eyes which were supposed to be less persnickity in their soil requirements. In order to comply with CA laws they had been shipped out without soil and quite honestly, i dont believe they journeyed well... and planted late they grew not one bit so I pulled them out this year and found some Highbush varieties at a 'local' nursery.

With another year here... I might as well rework the soil which needs to be on the acidic side. So, the dogs and I went to fetch some pine needles and humus from under one of our ranch pines (this is supposed to be a naturally acidic material). I also purchased some organic fertilizer by Happy Frog for acid loving plants and spread that on the surface of the existing bed & then added all 5 big bins of pine material on top of that. 

After giving the entire bed a good makeover and folding all that material into the existing soil mix… I planted 4 new blueberries: two Misty, one Legacy, one Sharp Blue... at about 3.5' apart (closer than the 4' recommended because I have no idea if these will take at all) & then mulched with pine needles straw around their base. 

Small volcanic rock, a wonderful local resource, was placed on the rest of the soil surface as mulch to keep it from drying out too fast. My paving stones got cleaned up as a grand finale & VOiLA !

I'm in the process of setting up a water purification system and i may take some of that water & ph it down to see if watering the blueberries with slightly acidic water may help as well. 

I'll keep you posted !