Every time I leave the house, my trips end up causing more work for Vince. Poor Vince! 🙂
Blueberries
Last week I went out and came home with more blueberries, and a few grapes, some basil and one little pot of dill. I planted the basil and dill but the blueberries and grapes . . those are Vince’s job because he thinks he’s an expert at tree/shrub planting and . . he probably is and even if he wasn’t, it’s a job I don’t want!
Blueberry Patch
He spent a good part of Saturday digging up a new patch for more blueberries. We have 6 or 8 plants already but I’m not sure we could ever grow enough blueberries to get us through the year. Some of the new ones are awfully small and it will be a while before they’re producing well but the pickings were slim this year. My favorite nursery had none. My next favorite nursery (we only have two) only had Climax. Home Depot had some very sad looking blueberries but at least they weren’t Climax . . they were Tifblue and I like those too.
When Vince made the bed, he planted them 4′ apart and there’s room for 4 more.
Blueberries
I was back at Home Depot today and they had Premier but they don’t look great so I only got two. It’s getting late in the season to find more or better plants but we’ll see. I’d love to get more Powder Blue plants. They’re my favorite as far as taste but my next favorite is Tif. At this point, I’ll take what I can get and be happy to have them and hope they produce well.
Once we get two more and fill that bed, we’ll have 18 or 20 plants (I can’t remember how many are in the old bed) and that’s probably all two old folks need. Addie LOVES blueberries and I would love to be able to produce enough to freeze plenty for her too.
I’m off to fertilize the tomatoes . .
Sherrill says
Poor, poor Vince! 🙂 How often do you fertilize your tomatoes and do you use the fish fert or Osmocote or both each time?
JudyL says
I fertilize the tomatoes about every 10 days. I don’t use the fish emulsion much after they start blooming but switch to anything with a higher middle number (phosphorus). I pour that down the gray pipes if it’s a liquid. Also, about once a week, I pour a 50/50 water/whey liquid down the gray pipes. Osmocote is time release and it’s 14-14-14 so it’s completely balanced. I use it when planting the tomatoes but don’t often use it again. If the soil temp is about 90º, the Osmocote is good for about 45 days. I continue to use fish emulsion (5-1-1) on things like lettuce, kale, asparagus.
Also, I spray the tomatoes and peppers with an espom salt solution about every 10 days before the sun comes up real bright or after the sun starts going down.
Sherrill says
What kind of solution? How much salt in water (or whatever)?
danielle says
I LOVE blueberries…..only have had minimal success growing them so have given up on them for now. And Basil…..no luck with basil either…..cant figure out what the problem is with that!
JudyL says
I have better luck with basil if it gets a little afternoon shade and ask it begins to grow, pinch the top off just about where you see two little leaves starting to form above a branch. Make sense?
JudyL says
Blueberries need a fairly acidic soil. We had acidifier because our soil is about 7.5 and we’d like to get it down to about 5. We have good luck watering them quite a bit about once a week and barely letting them dry out between waterings. That’s about all we do to them.
Pat says
In SC, we have to plant blueberries 6 feet apart in the row and the rows 12 feet apart. Tif Blue is our favorite also. We fertilize with 2 cups of cottonseed meal in the spring.