Thursday, March 29, 2012

Springing to Life


blueberry bush 3-24-11, originally uploaded by Bumble Lush.

After breaking my own camera, I have had a few difficulties using my husband's camera. Is Mercury in retrograde or something? I don't usually have technical difficulties. Hmph.

I forgot to post pictures of my blueberry plant progress. We used to have 3 blueberry plants. Two of them did not survive this past winter (ironic, because it was so mild. Yet they survived blizzards in prior years). My husband dug up the two plans that showed no signs of life and, sadly, found rotted roots.
Blueberry plants tend to produce more when they have a friend, so we bought one more plant for this one to cross-pollinate with. I'll have to keep a close eye on this area of the yard to make sure there's proper drainage. I think that, plus a black tarp-like thing I had laid down, contributed to the root rot of the other plants.

Next up: adding some coffee grounds to the soil and setting up a net so that I actually get to enjoy the berries instead of all the birds and squirrels getting to them.

blueberries1 3-17

Do you have blueberry plants? Any tips for caring for them?

8 comments:

  1. No tips at all as I lost both my plants a couple of years ago.

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  2. How gorgeous they are! But sorry, I haven't been brave enough yet to try growing a blueberry :)

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  3. I bought a blueberry recently and now that I know they like a friend I have a good excuse to buy another one. So far all I've doen is pot it up so my expertise is non existant.

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  4. I have two blueberry bushes that I purchased this year. Didn't realize they needed a friend that is not the same kind! Guess I'll be buying another next year, and squeezing it in. I'm hoping to get some blueberries this year, but not counting on it.

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  5. My blueberries like a moist acidic soil so I have them in a very moist all year area...I now have 6 plants and hope they fruit even more this year. They are smaller in size since I did not have lots of space...the red foliage in fall is stunning too. I also net mine in winter to keep the rabbits at bay and the birds in summer...mine are beginning to leaf...those buds will be fruit...these are my fav fruit...

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  6. I get so excited when I see blueberry bushes. We lost two to voles over winter, so we're planting more right now. I'm almost afraid to take them out of the greenhouse where they seem quite happy at the moment. They should love the coffee grounds. We make most of our soil amendments now, including lots of coffee grounds, but if you don't drink as much coffee as we do, I've also done well in the past using an acid-loving plant fertilizer. Something for Rhodies, camellias and azaleas works well, especially if your soil leans to the neutral-alkaline end of the spectrum. Your plants look like they're doing great though!

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  7. @Donna & @Curbstone Valley--thanks for the tips! My husband drinks enough coffee for 4 people so we have PLENTY of grounds, lol!

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  8. It is indeed ironic to know that most of your blueberry plants didn't survive. However, it's still good news because one survived! Hope to see your pair of blueberry plants flourish!

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