Planting Blueberries

The promise of Harvest yet to come.

Dad and I planted 35 blueberries over this last week. We’d bought them eariler in the season, put them in pots in the greenhouse temporarily, and now finally had the time to put them in the ground. We chose to plant them where the wild blueberries are happiest, and we marked out the area the shade structure we bought will cover and planted them within that. The structure will be erected later this year, or even next spring, and then covered with bird netting to protect the crop. We don’t expect berries off these plants this year, but we will certainly have wild berries, there are tons of green berries set on the plants already. We have been fertilizing with an acid-lovers fertilizer meant for rhodies and azaleas, Dad has been putting greensand on them, and as we were planting we used peat moss to backfill the holes to counteract the neutral potting soil some of the new plants were in. Blueberries love the acid, and New England gardeners have it easy, as our soils are naturally acid to begin with. We expect to be picking off these bushes with minimal care and fuss for decades.

You know you're working too hard when you snap your tools… and incidentally knock yourself in the head.
Dad putting the plant in the ground – note the peat moss backfill.