Growing blueberries...

[Raven]

Finally!!! I'm planting this weekend and, aside from my veggie garden, there is a place in my backyard that I think might be good for blueberry bushes. I'm told that the soil is "sour" back there (whatever that means) and that blueberries would do well.

Any advice about this would be much appreciated!

[Blue Gardener]

1. New Hampshire Extension Service

Has a couple of publications you can download:

http://extension.unh.edu/Pubs/PubsHG.htm#HG_Sxt

You might want to have your soil tested just to make sure what you have. Good Luck!

[ThomWV]

2. By 'sour' they mean its acidic

Blueberries require acidic soil, I think a pH somewhere around 5 is about right but look to the Extension Service from your home state to see what recommendations they have to give. Let me warn you about something though. No matter what Agricultural Extension Service you get your information from, and every state has them, they will suffer from one major failure. They are the handmaids to agribiz, not the home gardner. Their recommendations will almost always include the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. I don't know about you, but we do not use either.

With Blueberries you need to mulch deep and wide. Blueberries do not send down deep roots, they are more surface skimmers, and because of that they are prone to stress from lack of water in dry times. So you lay on the mulch heavy for a few feet around the plant in order to give the roots a more or less constantly moist soil - also the mulch itself can be somewhat acidic.

[LiberalEsto]

3. Use pine needles.

They're supposed to be a fabulous mulch for blueberries. I wish I had some, but no such luck.

[NEOhiodemocrat]

4. we have had a lot of luck with our blueberries

we put them in area boxed in from the grass with wood frame four foot wide by 24 foot long. Not raised bed, just a barrier about six to eight inches high to hold in the mulch and keep the grass out. Have six blueberry bushes in there and get an unbelievable amount each year. I can and freeze them and have more than enough for our family of seven. We put in cut grass clippings and any pine branches we trim off of the trees. Put this in nice and deep and weeds don't have a chance. Good luck with yours. Oh, I have three varieties of blueberries and the earlies always gets attacked by the birds and we loose some that way, but I always feel they need to eat also. But it seems the mid an latter varieties are left pretty much alone.