Blueberries are ripe

[pineywoods]

Picked the seasons first blueberries this morning. Got about a gallon, enuff to put one the bowl of cheerios for a while. Could have gotten a few more, but by 8 am it's already gettin hot in the berry patch.

[Patty]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm...blueberries! I love them! I am trying to grow some of my own with very little luck. This is the first year they haven't died immediately, so maybe there is hope afterall.

We have been picking strawberries all week. Yesterday my friend & I picked a full gallon of them for her family. Yummy! I noticed that the mulberry trees are full of ripe berries this morning on my walk to work. Tis the season!

[Don K]

We have picked about 4 gallons off of two bushes so far. I'm thinking about planting 4 to 6 more this fall. They freeze well. I fertilized mine this spring with Aluminum Sulfate and cottonseed meal. They responded.

Patty, do ya'll have acidic soil? They will not tolerate alkaline soil very well. My wife has family that live on the edge of the black belt about 25 miles north of us and their bushes die when they plant. Very alkaline from old seabed calcium deposits.

Don

[SwampDonkey]

Around these parts the only place they grow wild is on that old glacial sand. Here in potato land they die unless you add sand to the hole and sour it with some sulfate (added a year ahead). Then you most likely have to watch them because the surrounding soil will likely recharge the prepared mixture over time. I don't think you want to use river gravel/sand as it's full of calcium from the water.

We had one member a while back explain how to prepare your site. Now I forget who it was and where the post is. :/  But I did save a 1 pager in a word document for my father to use as a guide.

Try them in big plastic pots you sink in the ground (holes in the bottom for drainage), giving them lots of space for roots and use sour sand with some manure and a little loam mixed in because they need nitrogen and minerals. Use ammonium sulfate sparingly for fertilizer.

[Patty]

I gave up on growing them in the ground due to not being able to keep the soil acidic enough. This year I put them in pots up on the patio. I used miracle grow potting soil and mixed a bunch of pine needles into the top inch or two. Then I added some "blueberry food" from the plant store to the pots about two weeks ago. Right now the plants look pretty healthy....but the summer is still young and the berries have plenty of time yet to keel over and die.  :

I guess I should get a soil tester to take some of the guess work out of this if I really am serious about keeping them alive.

[Burlkraft]

Patty....Have ya tried puttin' pine needles on them?

My neighbor does that to his and his are beauties

Mebby there ain't no pines in Iowa  ???  ???

[Patty]

We have 1 or 2 pines left in Iowa Steve, and I added needles to the top couple of inches of soil.   Perhaps I should add some more. My friend told me about actually planting the bb bushes under a pine tree, but we do not have any in our yard, so I figured the next best thing would be needles on the soil.

[Burlkraft]

I was just kiddin' about no pines in Iowa. The last time I was there I did see a couple.   ;D ;D

My neighbor just piles the needles on his. I was over there today and he has at least a foot of them piled up on his bushes.

He has some berries the size of the end of your thumb!!!

I had a few...The were pretty DanG good

[Don_Papenburg]

Will pine bark mulch work as well as pine needles?
I have had my BBerries for over ten years and they are slowly dieing out . I have done everything I know to get the PH down but this part of the farm is the only place that stays at 6.5 or more I want to get below 5 .5  I have to lime the heck out of other parts to just get close to 6.
I was told to use oak sawdust /planer shavings as it has the acid qualities  I need.

Oh I picked some Bbeeries today  ;D Yumm ,  Now the Jap beetles will start showing up  >:(

[SwampDonkey]

Good place as any to toss this in. ;D



Blueberry cornbread, smothered in apple sauce with blueberries sprinkled on top. :D

[sawguy21]

Been filling up on them too. :D So good fresh on cereal or frozen with yogurt (missus finally got me eating the stuff). Blueberry pie with ice cream? OH YEAH.

[Woodcarver]

Had blueberry pancakes for breakfast yesterday and blueberry pie with ice cream last night for dessert  

[thecfarm]

Wife made some Blueberry Jam. Come to The C Farm stand and buy some. We also have Raspberry jam,Blackberry jam,Crab Apple jam,Strawberry jam,Elderberry jelly,Orange Marmalade,Triple Berry which has Straw,Black,Raspberry in it. She made up a Strawberry,Kiwi,Banana jam. Chokecherry jelly.

[Norm]

Wow she is a jam making factory!

[tonich]

Just picked the last blueberries in the Lower Mainland yesterday!
We spent the day in Tsawassen - South Delta.